David Clark
@dccmath.bsky.social
Mathematician at GVSU, but all views are my own. Author of Grading for Growth, the book and the blog!
Blog: https://gradingforgrowth.com/
Book: https://www.routledge.com/9781642673814
Info: https://sites.google.com/mail.gvsu.edu/clarkdav/
Blog: https://gradingforgrowth.com/
Book: https://www.routledge.com/9781642673814
Info: https://sites.google.com/mail.gvsu.edu/clarkdav/
Today on Grading for Growth, Melanie Butler writes a guest post about specifications grading in an asynchronous setting.
Specifications Grading in an Asynchronous Liberal Arts Math Course
A multi-year reflection
gradingforgrowth.com
November 3, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Today on Grading for Growth, Melanie Butler writes a guest post about specifications grading in an asynchronous setting.
It finally happened: A student dressed up as me for Halloween.
October 31, 2025 at 4:01 PM
It finally happened: A student dressed up as me for Halloween.
Today on Grading for Growth, one of the classic examples of how traditional grades don't do what they set out to do.
gradingforgrowth.com/p/alice-and-...
gradingforgrowth.com/p/alice-and-...
Alice and Bob
An example of how traditional grades misrepresent learning
gradingforgrowth.com
October 27, 2025 at 12:58 PM
Today on Grading for Growth, one of the classic examples of how traditional grades don't do what they set out to do.
gradingforgrowth.com/p/alice-and-...
gradingforgrowth.com/p/alice-and-...
Today on Grading for Growth, Robert continues to discuss deliberate practice and how it interacts with alternative grading.
What three research articles on deliberate practice say about grading
The connection between deliberate practice and alternative grading is closer than you might think.
gradingforgrowth.com
October 13, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Today on Grading for Growth, Robert continues to discuss deliberate practice and how it interacts with alternative grading.
Reposted by David Clark
Only one week left to apply for the Center for Grading Reform's Alternative Grading Institute! This two-day, hands-on, virtual experience offers opportunities to connect grading with your values and design an alt grading system for one of your courses. www.centerforgradingreform.org/alternative-...
Alternative Grading Institute
www.centerforgradingreform.org
October 8, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Only one week left to apply for the Center for Grading Reform's Alternative Grading Institute! This two-day, hands-on, virtual experience offers opportunities to connect grading with your values and design an alt grading system for one of your courses. www.centerforgradingreform.org/alternative-...
Today on Grading for Growth, a guest post by Jody Langdon on how she uses a (traditional) LMS gradebook to communicate progress in a Specifications Grading setup.
Specifications Grading and the LMS Gradebook
Helping Students Understand Their Course Progress
gradingforgrowth.com
October 6, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Today on Grading for Growth, a guest post by Jody Langdon on how she uses a (traditional) LMS gradebook to communicate progress in a Specifications Grading setup.
Today in delightful student comments (seriously).
October 2, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Today in delightful student comments (seriously).
Today on Grading for Growth: People sometimes have knee-jerk reactions when they first hear about alternative grading. What can you do?
Knee-jerk reactions
Strong, sudden opinions about alternative grading
gradingforgrowth.com
September 29, 2025 at 12:54 PM
Today on Grading for Growth: People sometimes have knee-jerk reactions when they first hear about alternative grading. What can you do?
Today on Grading for Growth, our guest poster Noel Warford describes his first time using alternative grading -- as a brand new faculty member.
Using collaborative grading as a new professor
Benefits and challenges of moving away from percentage-based grading
gradingforgrowth.com
September 22, 2025 at 1:31 PM
Today on Grading for Growth, our guest poster Noel Warford describes his first time using alternative grading -- as a brand new faculty member.
Alt-graders: I'm working on a post about off-the-cuff dismissals of alternative grading.
Negative gut-reactions people have when they first hear about it, and how to respond.
What would you include? (My current list is in the next post.)
I'm actually hoping it will be a bit light-hearted...
Negative gut-reactions people have when they first hear about it, and how to respond.
What would you include? (My current list is in the next post.)
I'm actually hoping it will be a bit light-hearted...
September 17, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Alt-graders: I'm working on a post about off-the-cuff dismissals of alternative grading.
Negative gut-reactions people have when they first hear about it, and how to respond.
What would you include? (My current list is in the next post.)
I'm actually hoping it will be a bit light-hearted...
Negative gut-reactions people have when they first hear about it, and how to respond.
What would you include? (My current list is in the next post.)
I'm actually hoping it will be a bit light-hearted...
Password requirements for a login I had to set up today. It just keeps getting worse the longer you look (yes, EXACTLY 8 characters in length).
September 15, 2025 at 5:29 PM
Password requirements for a login I had to set up today. It just keeps getting worse the longer you look (yes, EXACTLY 8 characters in length).
Today on Grading for Growth: How could we put deliberate practice into... practice?
Can deliberate practice be motivated?
A review of a research paper that studies this question, and what it means for alt-graders
gradingforgrowth.com
September 15, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Today on Grading for Growth: How could we put deliberate practice into... practice?
Reposted by David Clark
Are you ready to align your grading practices with your values?
Join us December 17–18 for the Alternative Grading Institute (online), which will bring together faculty from across higher education for a two-day, hands-on experience in standards-based, specifications, and collaborative grading.
Join us December 17–18 for the Alternative Grading Institute (online), which will bring together faculty from across higher education for a two-day, hands-on experience in standards-based, specifications, and collaborative grading.
Alternative Grading Institute
www.centerforgradingreform.org
September 10, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Are you ready to align your grading practices with your values?
Join us December 17–18 for the Alternative Grading Institute (online), which will bring together faculty from across higher education for a two-day, hands-on experience in standards-based, specifications, and collaborative grading.
Join us December 17–18 for the Alternative Grading Institute (online), which will bring together faculty from across higher education for a two-day, hands-on experience in standards-based, specifications, and collaborative grading.
There's lots to dislike about Blackboard, but here's my most petty complaint of the day:
Blackboard literally doesn't allow dates with 4-digit years. You can ONLY enter 2-digit years.
Blackboard literally doesn't allow dates with 4-digit years. You can ONLY enter 2-digit years.
September 10, 2025 at 3:01 PM
There's lots to dislike about Blackboard, but here's my most petty complaint of the day:
Blackboard literally doesn't allow dates with 4-digit years. You can ONLY enter 2-digit years.
Blackboard literally doesn't allow dates with 4-digit years. You can ONLY enter 2-digit years.
Today on Grading for Growth, a guest post by Jane Wageman: How can you keep track of how students change and grow during the writing process?
Feedback, revisions, and the writing process
Tracking growth across drafts in an undergraduate research course
gradingforgrowth.com
September 8, 2025 at 6:41 PM
Today on Grading for Growth, a guest post by Jane Wageman: How can you keep track of how students change and grow during the writing process?
Grand Rapids's flag, officially showing our famous Calder statue against the river, is almost universally known as the "bloody saber-tooth pac-man".
August 27, 2025 at 1:54 AM
Grand Rapids's flag, officially showing our famous Calder statue against the river, is almost universally known as the "bloody saber-tooth pac-man".
This morning on Grading for Growth: Alternative grading in a large online asynchronous credit/no-credit class for graduate TAs.
Helping new TAs find value in required training
How alternative grading increased satisfaction in a large online, asynchronous, pass/fail course
gradingforgrowth.com
August 25, 2025 at 12:57 PM
This morning on Grading for Growth: Alternative grading in a large online asynchronous credit/no-credit class for graduate TAs.
Today on Grading for Growth: Gateways, not gatekeeping. Maybe a bit relevant right now.
Throwback: Gateways, not gatekeeping
Or, how not to scare away new alternative graders
gradingforgrowth.com
August 11, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Today on Grading for Growth: Gateways, not gatekeeping. Maybe a bit relevant right now.
It's that time of year for a CRITTERS IN MY GARDEN thread!
These little critters make me very happy when I see them. I hope they make your day a bit better too.
I'll keep adding as they keep appearing.
These little critters make me very happy when I see them. I hope they make your day a bit better too.
I'll keep adding as they keep appearing.
August 7, 2025 at 2:51 PM
It's that time of year for a CRITTERS IN MY GARDEN thread!
These little critters make me very happy when I see them. I hope they make your day a bit better too.
I'll keep adding as they keep appearing.
These little critters make me very happy when I see them. I hope they make your day a bit better too.
I'll keep adding as they keep appearing.
Reposted by David Clark
As we enter a new academic year, I have decided to permanently and significantly reduce my speaking fees for in-person and virtual events. And even these are highly negotiable. At this time of crisis in higher ed (and reduced budgets) I want to open doors for working together to make change. 1/3
August 7, 2025 at 2:47 PM
As we enter a new academic year, I have decided to permanently and significantly reduce my speaking fees for in-person and virtual events. And even these are highly negotiable. At this time of crisis in higher ed (and reduced budgets) I want to open doors for working together to make change. 1/3
I teach at a month-long math summer camp for middle schoolers. Among other things, I teach a coding theory class.
The camp's "yearbook" just came out with a page that was labeled "Dr. Clark should decode this". So I present you with this minor puzzle. Enjoy.
(You can copy from the alt-text)
The camp's "yearbook" just came out with a page that was labeled "Dr. Clark should decode this". So I present you with this minor puzzle. Enjoy.
(You can copy from the alt-text)
July 30, 2025 at 12:55 PM
I teach at a month-long math summer camp for middle schoolers. Among other things, I teach a coding theory class.
The camp's "yearbook" just came out with a page that was labeled "Dr. Clark should decode this". So I present you with this minor puzzle. Enjoy.
(You can copy from the alt-text)
The camp's "yearbook" just came out with a page that was labeled "Dr. Clark should decode this". So I present you with this minor puzzle. Enjoy.
(You can copy from the alt-text)
This week: Part 2 of how I use standards-based *and* specifications grading together in the same class. This time I talk about things I don't grade, final grades, and reflections.
July 28, 2025 at 11:41 PM
This week: Part 2 of how I use standards-based *and* specifications grading together in the same class. This time I talk about things I don't grade, final grades, and reflections.
With the sad news of Tom Lehrer's death yesterday, we should all take a moment to check in with our friend in Minsk.
Mathematicians: Somebody designed a card game based on Tom Lehrer's "Lobachevsky".
The goal is to build a sequence of friends starting in Minsk and ending in Dnepropetrovsk, which lets you publish a paper.
boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/42...
The goal is to build a sequence of friends starting in Minsk and ending in Dnepropetrovsk, which lets you publish a paper.
boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/42...
Lobachevsky
Players try to be the first to publish mathematics research from Dnepropetrovsk.
boardgamegeek.com
July 27, 2025 at 6:03 PM
With the sad news of Tom Lehrer's death yesterday, we should all take a moment to check in with our friend in Minsk.
Today on the blog: How I use alternative grading in a class that involves both learning discrete skills *and* teaches professional communication. (part 1 - more next week!)
Mixing and matching SBG and Specifications (part 1)
How I use multiple grading approaches in an intro-to-proofs class
gradingforgrowth.com
July 21, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Today on the blog: How I use alternative grading in a class that involves both learning discrete skills *and* teaches professional communication. (part 1 - more next week!)
A guest post by Jordan Freitas from Loyola Marymount University: The Karpman Drama Triangle, a lens through which we can try to understand grading and alternatives.
The Drama Triangle of Grading
Understanding the stress of grading and a path towards empowerment
gradingforgrowth.com
June 23, 2025 at 1:46 PM
A guest post by Jordan Freitas from Loyola Marymount University: The Karpman Drama Triangle, a lens through which we can try to understand grading and alternatives.