Book Club

Read a teaching-focused book with the CTL. Book clubs typically meet weekly and discuss the text as well as ways we can apply this understanding in our own classrooms and lives. Book clubs are open to听anyone interested, including faculty, teaching professors, lecturers,听graduate students,听postdoctoral scholars,听补苍诲听staff.


Summer 2025

Grading for Growth

Join our Professional Development Lead Preston Cumming for the Summer 2025 Book Club to read and discuss . Book club participants will walk away with a fresh perspective on how grading can better support student learning, a toolkit of alternative strategies to explore, and practical steps to begin reimagining assessment in their own classrooms or institutions.

The group will meet weekly 辞苍听Wednesdays from May 21 - June 25, 10:00-11:00 am听Mountain Time. Book club will be hosted听remotely via Zoom.听


Purchase/borrow the book from the听, your local bookstore, search your institution鈥檚 library, or directly through the publisher. If you would like to attend and cannot afford the text, please reach out to Preston.Cumming@colorado.EDU听for assistance.

Participants can receive credit toward the CTL's听graduate and postdoctoral scholar teaching certificates or micro-credentials. Please contact Preston.Cumming@colorado.EDU听for more details.


About the Book

Are you truly satisfied with your current grading system? Does it reflect your students鈥 actual learning and growth鈥攐r can it be gamed? Does it encourage meaningful learning, or does it lead to grade-grubbing and unnecessary friction? In Grading for Growth, two mathematics professors鈥攄rawing on their own experience and insights from colleagues across disciplines鈥攑resent a fundamentally more effective and authentic approach to grading that they have successfully used for over a decade.

Traditional grading often penalizes students during the learning process by limiting opportunities for feedback and revision. In contrast, alternative grading focuses on a student鈥檚 eventual understanding, allowing room for reflection, iteration, and growth. It transforms the classroom dynamic: students revisit earlier missteps, learn from feedback, and shift conversations from 鈥淲hy did I lose points?鈥 to deeper discussions about content and process.

This book offers a comprehensive introduction to alternative grading, including frameworks, real-world examples, and evidence of effectiveness. It explores approaches such as Standards-Based Grading, Specifications Grading, and ungrading鈥攕howcasing how they can work in any discipline, class size, or format. Faculty contributors share firsthand stories and practices from a wide range of institutional settings. A dedicated workbook chapter helps readers begin designing their own alternative grading system, with step-by-step guidance and practical advice for implementation.

Core principles of alternative grading include:

  • Assessing student work based on clearly defined and meaningful standards
  • Providing actionable, growth-oriented feedback
  • Using progress indicators instead of arbitrary points
  • Supporting revision without penalty until standards are met or exceeded

Whether you're exploring new assessment approaches or refining a system already in place, Grading for Growth offers an empowering, student-centered model that reimagines how we evaluate learning.