Dr. Lizz Angello and the Center for Innovative Teaching & Learning are offering an opportunity to explore the topic of grading in a book club discussing the issues and ideas presented in "Failing Our Future: How Grades Harm Our Students and What We Can Do about It" by Joshua R. Eyler.
Join us for a short series of conversations aimed at achieving a grasp of the issues while also unpack assumptions about grading. This is not a prescriptive activity and we do not know where the sessions will lead us; we do want to dig into this important topic!
The author, Joshua Eyler, will add his expertise to the discussion when he joins us for the third and final session.
We will meet on Zoom from 4:30-6pm on:
Thursday, January 30, 2025
Thursday, February 13, 2025
Thursday, February 27, 2025
About the book (via Amazon.com) -
One of the most urgent and long-standing issues in the US education system is its obsession with grades. In "Failing Our Future," Joshua R. Eyler shines a spotlight on how grades inhibit learning, cause problems between parents and children, amplify inequities, and contribute to the youth mental health crisis.
Eyler, who runs the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at the University of Mississippi, illustrates how grades interfere with students' intrinsic motivation and perpetuate the idea that school is a place for competition rather than discovery.
Grades force students to focus on rewards and distract them from exploring ideas or pursuing interests beyond what they'll be tested on. In fact, grades significantly impede the learning process. They are also significantly affecting children's physical, emotional, and psychological well-being. Rates of anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation have spiked, and academic stress tied to grades is a leading cause of this escalation.
Eyler shares success stories of grading reform efforts that are already under way as an antidote to the harms caused by the practices currently used in educational institutions. Equal parts scathing and hopeful, Failing Our Future aims to improve the lives of students by encouraging them to define success on their own terms. Parents, educators, policymakers.