How Change Happens: Breaking the Grading Habit, One Step at a Time

“It’s not as hard as you think.”

—Elena Aguilar

That’s how educator and coach Elena Aguilar opens her July 2024 weekly newsletter to her subscribers on change (sign up here if interested!).  We are not sure we have ever been brave enough to start any grading reform conversation with such a statement, but we have been inspired to learn more.  We think Aguilar means that helping teachers and schools along the grading reform journey, like so many other changes in education, is both simple and complex.  As Aguilar (2024) writes:

“When we break changes down into discrete skills, and sequence those skills, and then practice many times, behavior changes. Humans are designed to be adaptive, responsive, and to learn.” (Aguilar, 2024)

We’ve been thinking about that line in the context of grading reform in K–12 schools.  For many educators, changing how they grade feels overwhelming. Too many systems. Too much tradition. Too much risk. And yet, we believe Aguilar is right: change isn’t as hard as we think—when we approach it in the right way. Three key steps can help break the grading habit.

Step 1: Grading Change is Emotional, Not Just Technical

Grading is more than a spreadsheet, numbers or percentages—grading can also be perceived as a reflection of an educator’s values, their beliefs about students, and their professional identity. So when we ask educators to rethink grading, it’s not just about changing a policy; it’s about confronting years of habit and inherited systems.  That’s why Aguilar’s emphasis on psychological safety resonates so strongly. She reminds us:  “When we’re in a context that feels safe, we learn fast.”

We’ve seen this firsthand. When educators feel judged, their defenses may go up. But when they feel supported—when their experiences are validated and they’re given space to explore—real change happens.  By "space" we mean more than just "time." We’ve facilitated workshops where teachers arrived skeptical and left curious. What made the difference? Not mandates. Not mandates disguised as professional development. The difference was time, safety, and support.  Adult learning theory tells us learning is more effective when it connects to and builds upon the learner’s existing knowledge and experience.  This means wrestling with a person’s past and present where reflection and reconsideration can occur—building on, not ignoring, educators’ histories. Dan Lortie famously referred to this concept as ‘psychic rewards’, that is, understanding and connecting with an educators’ deeply held beliefs about their reasons for entering the teaching profession.  When grading reform is done in a safe space for educators it enhances the psychic rewards for teachers especially in building and fostering positive relationships; known counter to implementing traditional grading practices.  For example, some educators regard equitable outcomes for students as a core value, making it essential to demonstrate how revised grading practices can help remove barriers.

Step 2: Behavior Change Happens Through Chunking

Aguilar’s work in Coaching for Equity is a model for how we might approach difficult conversations—and grading is no exception. She describes breaking complex, emotionally loaded conversations into smaller types (“the elephant-in-the-room conversation,” for example), and then scaffolding those with guided practice.

Grading reform benefits from the same structure.  Want to change how you grade? Don’t start with a new report card or a full-scale standards-based overhaul, but rather, focus on small more manageable actions that more accurately communicate student learning. Start here:

Replace zeros with incomplete-and invite students to resubmit

When students do not submit an assignment, rather than assigning a zero, teachers can include an "incomplete" mark in the grade book.  Students should then be invited to resubmit their evidence of learning.

Stop averaging scores and instead look at the most recent evidence within a learning outcome or standard

For example, when a student improves from the rough draft of an essay to the final version, the learning demonstrated in the most recent submission should take precedence over earlier marks in the grade book.  Imagine a karate student who begins as a white belt, practices diligently, and grows in skill toward earning a black belt—but is awarded only a gray belt because their performance was averaged across all levels of proficiency (Guskey, 2002).

Provide only written non-numerical feedback to daily assignments and checks for understanding; no points, percentages or numbers

After introducing a concept for the first time, it is reasonable to expect students to make mistakes and learn from them. Rather than assigning numerical scores to daily assignments or mid-unit checks for understanding, teachers should provide descriptive feedback, such as a red/yellow/green traffic light indicator known to have a better association with intrinsic motivation compared to a ratio of points earned or loss or a percentage grade (Butler & Nisan, 1986).

These aren’t big leaps. They’re intentional moves. And when educators take them, one by one, they begin to move. They start seeing students—not systems.

Step 3: Grading Reform Is Possible—Because Educators Are Learners

Too often, grading reform is framed as fixing what’s broken. That’s not helpful. It’s more accurate—and more respectful—to say: grading reform is a learning journey so we can be better communicators. And educators are wired to learn.  It might just be a permission culture to venture from the confines of an antiquated teacher school handbook (or absence of policy at all).  It might also be lack of awareness of the perils of traditional grading, and quite possibly, it may just be humbling to realize all of their years in the classroom grading the way they were likely graded; wasn’t very equitable–and that can be tough to wrestle with for educators both novice and veteran.  Fostering an adult learning stance requires leadership to fail-forward and create a safe environment for a better way.

Let’s stop asking educators to make these changes in isolation or all at once. Let’s start helping them experience success in manageable chunks, with colleagues who can listen, challenge, and cheer them on.