Assessment 3.0 Quotes

“Furthermore, if there’s any validity to the community college effect, grades, GPAs, and class rank are completely irrelevant factors when evaluating students for admission to college. Thus, they are also irrelevant factors for assessing learning in the K–12 world.”
― Mark Barnes, Assessment 3.0: Throw Out Your Grade Book and Inspire Learning

“grades distract students from exploring what is valuable.”
― Mark Barnes, Assessment 3.0: Throw Out Your Grade Book and Inspire Learning

“If a mark is required for a report card, let’s ask our students what they believe that grade should be, based on a detailed assessment by both student and teacher of all that was or was not accomplished during a grading period.”
― Mark Barnes, Assessment 3.0: Throw Out Your Grade Book and Inspire Learning

“letter grades are not only wholly subjective, they are immaterial when it comes to understanding what students have and have not accomplished in an academic setting.”
― Mark Barnes, Assessment 3.0: Throw Out Your Grade Book and Inspire Learning

“Feedback places students in a category all their own. This girl’s accomplishments were truly huge accomplishments if you only compare her performance to her ability. If you were to compare her performance with another student’s, she may look, once again, as just a mediocre, slow-processing reader. It isn’t fair, though, to compare her or belittle her progress, success, or accomplishments with another learner’s. She deserves the right to grow, process, and succeed at a rate that works for her and then celebrate when she meets her goals! That’s what feedback has the power to produce in a classroom. (2014)”
― Mark Barnes, Assessment 3.0: Throw Out Your Grade Book and Inspire Learning

“They wanted to master skills and they wanted to show off their new skills! It was remarkable to see the significant change in their reading and, especially, their writing, while taking away traditional grades.”
― Mark Barnes, Assessment 3.0: Throw Out Your Grade Book and Inspire Learning

“Students and parents and teachers were always interested in having conversations about learning, but it was the notion of grades, the rigidity of 100-point scales or 5-point rubrics that always got in the way.”
― Mark Barnes, Assessment 3.0: Throw Out Your Grade Book and Inspire Learning

“After studying the extensive research of experts like Dylan Wiliam (2011), Thomas Guskey (2011), Alfie Kohn (2011), and John Hattie (2007), I knew that replacing grades with narrative feedback would be a central piece of transitioning from a traditional to a student-centered classroom,”
― Mark Barnes, Assessment 3.0: Throw Out Your Grade Book and Inspire Learning

“Measuring learning is education’s principal problem—one that stunts the growth of our students even more than a lack of technology, oversized classrooms, and standardized testing.”
― Mark Barnes, Assessment 3.0: Throw Out Your Grade Book and Inspire Learning

“When students are conditioned to fail, they see no value in learning; thus, even when faced with engaging assignments that will enhance skills that are necessary in school and in life, they believe they can’t succeed.”
― Mark Barnes, Assessment 3.0: Throw Out Your Grade Book and Inspire Learning

“Independent learners are successful students. They take lessons and models from class and turn them into skills. Independent learners read on their own time, use the Internet for research, and manage content efficiently on social media.”
― Mark Barnes, Assessment 3.0: Throw Out Your Grade Book and Inspire Learning

“Feedback places students in a category all their own. This girl’s accomplishments were truly huge accomplishments if you only compare her performance to her ability. If you were to compare her performance with another student’s, she may look, once again, as just a mediocre, slow-processing reader. It isn’t fair, though, to compare her or belittle her progress, success, or accomplishments with another learner’s. She deserves the right to grow, process, and succeed at a rate that works for her and then celebrate when she meets her goals! That’s what feedback has the power to produce in a classroom.”
― Mark Barnes, Assessment 3.0: Throw Out Your Grade Book and Inspire Learning