Alternative Grading Pillar: Marks Indicate Progress

Marks Indicate Progress is the third of four pillars of alternative grading. See Clark & Talbert (2023) for more information about the four pillars model. As with any atypical course component, be sure to communicate with students why you're doing this, how it might help them, and what steps you'll take to make it right if it doesn't go they way you hope.

  • What It Is
  • Starting Small
  • Explore More

What It Is: Marks Indicate Progress

What would it look like to replace a score that's entered in a gradebook with an indicator of how you want the student to spend their effort going forward? What would that mean for you as an instructor? What would that mean for your students? That's the heart of "Marks Indicate Progress."

There's little that could be added to the blog post about "Giving Marks that Indicate Progress" by Robert Talbert; readers are directed to that that excellent resource.

As discussed by Sharona Krinsky during the 2025 Reframing Grading Forum, applying mathematics to numerically-represented categorical data is a common but absurd practice. Unfortunately, the numeric scores we give to students are just that. Talbert also touches on this, using an apt ZIP code analogy: ZIP codes are numerically-represented categorical data. What does it mean to take the average of a bunch of ZIP codes? (For fun, I tried this with ZIP codes in Lawrence, Wichita, and Kansas City, Kansas. The resulting ZIP code is for Emmett, a town that lies to the north of all of them. It's true: The average has no meaningful interpretation.) Even if you opt to continue with a points-based system, you should do so knowing what you're doing, and Sharona's keynote is a great place to start.

A "mark" should indicate at a glance how a piece of work compares to standards. Students then use "Helpful Feedback" to know what they need to do next (changes to make to the work, things to continue doing when moving to the next assignment, etc.) Simple systems using neutral and direct language are best, though some instructors have fun here, using emojis, GIFs, etc. Just be sure it's interpretable by all students.

  • Two-level marks: not yet / move on;  reattempt / continue;  not met / met;  etc.
  • Three-level marks:  continue working / nearly there / completed;   reapproach / revise / rejoice;  etc. 
  • Four-level marks:  beginning / developing / proficient / excellent;  the "EMRN" system described by Talbert in the link above;  etc.

 

Starting Small

This is the most difficult pillar to divorce from the others. While not strictly necessary, having "Clear Standards," providing "Helpful Feedback," and/or allowing "Reattempts Without Penalty" will make it easier to introduce "Marks Indicate Progress" in a course. 

All the same, some standalone strategies are offered below. Perhaps because this pillar much more tied to the others, communication with students will be of utmost importance when trying to introduce "Marks Indicate Progress" in a standalone way. Be transparent in why you're trying this out, outline the steps you'll take to minimize any negative effects, and remind them that you'll remain in dialogue with them as this trial unfolds.

For each, an extension that includes one or more of the other pillars. The suggestions progress in weight from top to bottom. For more ideas or thoughts on "Marks Indicate Progress," consult the sections "Explore More" and "References and Resources" further down the page.

 

Five ways to try Marks Indicate Progress

This small activity can support any of the others below on this list. Students select a course component and a tier-system (i.e., two-tier, three-tier, or four-tier marks.) The class gets to name these tiers, which can be fun! (Just remind them to keep it classy.) However, students must also come to consensus on what each tier means and what differentiates them. They then provide this information to the instructor for final approval. In this way, students get a preview of how instructors think when creating a course (potentially garnering some sympathy) while also letting students have a say in the evaluation process.

Alternatively, this could stand alone, in which case students might also decide which (no- or low-stakes) assignments the system will be applied to. This is easier than if the instructor had created the system, since the student have fully described (and therefore understand) each tier's meaning.

Note that once the tier system is approved, it could be the instructor or the students themselves who apply it to work in the course.

Pick a single assignment, and make it a checkpoint that all students must pass through. Because "Marks Indicate Progress" is not being used elsewhere in the course, this should be a relatively no-stakes (or at most, low-stakes) assignment. Use any feedback system you prefer: two-, three-, or four-tier. Because other pillars are missing, it would be inappropriate to tie this to passing the course. Instead consider a two-pronged approach: Indicate that students must complete this assignment with to be allowed to earn an A, along with how they'll approach the course going forward in as a result of the mark they received.

EXTENSION 1: Add in "Clear Standards" for the assignment. Then students know more clearly what they need to do and what parts of the assignment are or are not going well.

EXTENSION 2: Add in "Helpful Feedback." Rather than returning to students a list of un/met standards, include specific observations about their work's strength and weaknesses.

EXTENSION 3: Make this a true checkpoint, adding "Reattempt Without Penalty."

Before the semester begins, choose one regularly occurring type of assignment. This could be a type of formative or summative assessment: exit tickets, minute papers, a question sheet, etc. Remove any points associated with that category. Indicate instead that participation is required for the course, and that the assignments will serve as checks to students to let them know if they're on track for that class period or week—their current understanding barometer, if you will. Apply the marks system of your choosing, preferably a two-tier or three-tier system. Further indicate to students that they can chat with you about their progress, as indicated by the checks, at any time.

EXTENSION: Pair this with course standards. You can indicate the students more directly what facets of the work do or do not meet standards.

 

Students work with you to develop a type of check-in AND evaluation system. Without other pillars, this should be a low- or no-stakes affair: Think formative assessment. Students must also negotiate with the instructor how many of these assignments must receive a "pass" to earn full credit for that assignment type for the semester.

For example, the students and instructor arrive at the following: There will be 8 opportunities for students to complete short (1-page) summaries of the week's main ideas. These are scored "misunderstood / partly understood / understood," and students must receive 4 "understood" ratings before the end of the semester to earn the full 5% of the course's points allotted to short summary assignments. In this way, students still have multiple opportunities and learn the instructor's criteria inductively without fear of penalty.

EXTENSION 1: Pair this with "Clear Standards" so students can meet expectations sooner and with less inductive effort.

EXTENSION 2: Allow multiple "Reattempts Without Penalty" to similarly lessen inductively load and provide a softer landing. 

Some instructors use assignments that have a life outside the classroom; students create might create blog posts, curated image repositories, websites, videos, resources for future students, and more. As a consequence, such assignments often have audience beyond the instructor. This allows for a form of "Marks Indicate Progress" that can occur in tandem with traditional grading. The external audience (often the public) can comment, like/dislike, or both. This can be reconfigured so that the external audience operates only within a precribed tier system. Perhaps their rating options are "not helpful / helpful," "underresearched / some information / insightful," or some other system that the instructor and/or students have developed.

Students can take the ratings received as a form of marks that indicating their progress on the project. Because open ratings systems skew toward the negative, particularly after initial negative ratings appear, it may be useful to refresh the rankings or comments between drafts. Save the rankings each time, so a record of growth exists.

Alternatively, students perform these ratings amongst themselves in advance of sharing their work with the external partners, though this doesn't have the weight of external evaluation from "the real world."

Explore More

Below are resources to help you take "Marks Indicate Progress" even further.

Marks like letter grades (A, B, C, etc.) can have many interpretations and aren't rooted in a student's development or progress. Similarly, numbers meant to indicate quality can quickly lose meaning, in terms of student progress. The Grading for Growth blog post "Giving Marks That Indicate Progress" provides concrete arguments and examples.

If the suggested starting points here aren't resonating, consider a method recommended by David Clark: Write out a short definition for each number of points for an assignment and grade according to those definitions. For more detail, see "Small Alternative Grading."

Three more ideas are offered in "20 Small Starts for Alternative Grading" by Robert Talbert. These are excellent ways to start with "Marks Indicate Progress" if you're tied to a points system.

Large-enrollment and technical (STEM) courses are often seen as impenetrable: Alternative grading has no place in them. This, of course, couldn't be farther from the truth. Clarissa Sorensen-Unruh outlines her particular system for organic chemistry. It makes heavy use of simple systems of Marks that Indicate Progress: 0,1,2 systems, emojis, and more. The description can be found in Susan Blum's "UNgrading."

 

References and Resources

Clark, D., Talbert, R. (2023) Grading for Growth: A Guide to Alternative Grading Practices that Promote Authentic Learning and Student Engagement in Higher Education.  Routledge.

Clark, D. (2023, Mar. 27) Small Alternative Grading: You Can Use Alternative Grading in Your Class Tomorrow. Grading for Growth.https://gradingforgrowth.com/p/small-alternative-grading

Sorensen-Unruh, C. (2020) UNgrading: Why Rating Students Undermines Learning (and What to Do Instead. Blum, S. D. (Ed.) A STEM UNgrading Case Study: A Reflection on First-time Implementation in Organic Chemistry II. (pp. 140-160) West Virginia University Press.

Talbert, R. (2022, Mar. 28) Giving Marks That Indicate Progress: Marks Are How Students Interface With Feeback Loops. How Can We Make them Work For Us? Grading for Growth. https://gradingforgrowth.com/p/giving-marks-that-indicate-progress

Talbert, R. (2024, Mar. 11) 20 Small Starts for Alternative Grading: Meaningful Reform of Grading is Within Everyone's Grasp. Grading for Growth.https://gradingforgrowth.com/p/20-small-starts-for-alternative-grading