SY: Massive thanks to Sharona Krinsky and David Clark for sharing their thoughts on the topic of mastery-based grading or MBG for short. This interview grew out of a different conversation Sharona, David, and I had about a separate topic. MBG is an excellent framework for assessing students for learning with a focus on equity and is compatible with IBL methods and non-IBL methods.
Question 1: First, tell us a bit about yourselves.
Sharona: I’m a full-time lecturer in the math department at California State University Los Angeles. I’m also the executive producer of Encore South Bay (Link), a community and youth theater company in Los Angeles. I have degrees in math from UC Berkeley and The Ohio State University, as well as an MBA from The Ohio State University. In addition to working, I love Israeli dancing, scrapbooking, and traveling.
David: I’m an associate professor in the math department at Grand Valley State University, in west Michigan. I’m also a boardgamer (although not a very good one…), hiker and backpacker, and amateur photographer. I’ve lived my entire life in Michigan and nearby. For grad school, I moved from Michigan south into Canada.
Question 2: How did you get involved in MBG?
Sharona: A few years ago I was looking for more ways to bring active learning into my Calculus classroom and stumbled across Kate Owens’ blog about SBG [standards-based grading]. Started reading it and then joined the Google+ group run by Robert Talbert. This led me down a rabbit hole that included Robert’s blog and posts by Josh Bowman. I dove in head first, converting three separate classes at the same time to standards based grading and never looked back. From there, I had the incredible fortune to meet Kate at MathFest a few years ago in Denver which connected me with Dave, Drew Lewis, and TJ Hitchman. This was followed by a serendipitous run-in with Robert Talbert at Poly Teach at Cal Poly Pomona. A year later, I was asked to redesign and coordinate our GE statistics class, which has over 1,500 students in 50+ sections every fall and about 600+ students and 20+ sections in spring. I convinced my co-coordinator to do standard-based, mastery grading and brought about 30 other instructors along for the ride.
David: As an undergrad, I took a few classes that used (what I now recognize as) Inquiry-Based Learning and Ungrading. They encouraged me to learn and persevere much more than my other classes. That experience lived in the back of my head throughout grad school, while I got more and more disappointed with the incentives that points brought into my classes (think: “Why isn’t this 8/10 instead of 7/10?”). After graduating, I heard a talk from TJ Hitchman during a Project:NExT session in which he offhandedly mentioned how he used standards-based grading in a geometry class. That started me down the rabbit hole, and I ended up completely re-working my syllabus to use SBG -- just weeks before I started teaching that course. That class was an amazing experience, and I couldn’t believe how much it improved my students’ experiences (they begged me to give them a quiz on the day before Thanksgiving break). Since then I’ve been slowly learning and converting more courses to use various forms of mastery grading.
Question 3: What are some of the key benefits to students?
Sharona:
Allows for growth through failure: Getting students to understand that failure is not only OK but a better way to learn is a huge breakthrough. De-programming the idea that only immediate success is how you succeed allows time to build on growth mindset ideas and build grit in our students.
Talking Math, Not Arithmetic (of Grades): Students get to focus on questions such as “what do I not understand about the math?” instead of “how am I going to get enough points to get the grade I want?”. Conversations with students are positive, encouraging, and about MATH. They learn more, and they discover that they can succeed by not giving up.
Encourages deeper thinking and communication: Students learn that there are a lot of ways to show that they understand the material. AND that understanding is not the same as getting the right answer. They learn to show what they know, even if what they know is partial or incomplete.
David: MBG...
Gives students time to learn. It gives students a chance to come back from early failures without penalty. Compare that to how, in a traditionally graded class, doing poorly on an early midterm exam can tank a student’s grade for the rest of the semester. Similarly, if a student doesn’t have some background that an instructor expected, MBG helps identify this and give students a way to learn background material without penalty.
- Decreases test anxiety. Because assessments are lower stakes, there’s less pressure on each individual assessment.
- Encourages students to develop a growth mindset, which can benefit them beyond any individual class.
- Sets up a clear path to success. Clear objectives, and grade requirements stated in terms of those objectives, let students see exactly what they need to do to succeed in a class. It removes the sense that grades are something that happen to students, and gives them agency.
Sharona: In my opinion, MBG is the answer to the serious limitations of high-stakes tests. Although I still give timed assessments, the knowledge that the worst thing that happens as a result of the test is that they might have to test again tremendously lowers both the anxiety of the students and the incentives to cheat. Most students WANT to learn. That’s why they are in college. They want to do well, and they want the time spent studying to be worth it. If they can show what they know, get feedback, and then get to show it again, they quickly learn that it is worth it to do the work themselves. It also allows for tremendous customization of the learning process to meet students where they are, without placing undue burden on the instructor.
David: During the Big Pivot online last March, the one thing about my classes that didn’t need to change was my assessments: My MBG setup was flexible enough to keep working. MBG lowers the stakes on every assessment. Even if an instructor uses timed tests, each one becomes lower stakes, since students have opportunities to retake or revise later. MBG also supports instructors in using assessments that fit the COVID era better, such as portfolios, interviews, or student-made videos. These kinds of assessments aren’t inherent to MBG, but they work well with the philosophy of determining if students have demonstrated overall proficiency in their work.
Question 5: How does someone get started with MBG? And if someone has a question, where can they go?
Sharona: In addition to reading about MBG and joining the community, instructors need to begin learning about and using Backwards Design principles to design the course. Begin by asking the big question “What should my students know and be able to do” after taking my course. And really hone in on that answer. Don’t just accept the list of skills that we have traditionally taught. For example, I really thought about what the core concepts of Calculus II were and came up with the math of “accumulation”, “the infinite” and “position and motion in space”. I then organized my learning targets around those core concepts. If you visit www.MasteryGrading.com you will have links to over 16 hours of recordings from our first Mastery Grading conference, held online in Summer 2020.
David: Start by reading one or two of these articles to get an overall idea of how MBG works: Kate Owens’s standards-based grading blog post, Robert Talbert’s Specifications grading blog series, or my MBT article. Then check out the articles in the PRIMUS Special Issue on MBG. These articles are detailed explanations of how instructors have used MBG in many different classes, and they are free to all MAA members. Two great places to ask questions and get inspiration: Robert Talbert’s Mastery Grading Slack Workspace (the link invites you to join the workspace) and the super-friendly MBG community on Twitter. Follow @MasteryGrading, check out this list of MBG tweeters, and look at hashtags like #masterygrading, #sbgchat, and #pointlessgrading.
Question 6: Anything else you’d like to add?
Sharona: MBG has been the single highest impact practice that I’ve adopted in over 30 years of teaching. I did workshops on “cooperative learning” in the 90’s and have used active learning for decades. I was an early adopter of the Hughes-Hallett Calculus text. Despite all of that, I never really succeeded in getting most of my students to really engage in the actual mathematics until I started MBG. The depth of content in my conversations with my students is incredible. And I really enjoy giving really high grades that my students worked incredibly hard to get. (My grades are bi-modal, all A’s, B’s and F’s). I call myself an MBG evangelist for a reason :)
David: My first time using MBG was a “glass shattering” moment. I’ve never again been satisfied using points in a class. It’s changed not just how I do assessment, but my whole focus when designing a class. MBG also fits well with active learning pedagogies like IBL: We’re trying to inquire into what students know and set up opportunities for them to demonstrate their understanding -- rather than forcing limited assessments with punitive results. Finally, the huge variety of ways that people use MBG, and all the acronyms that go with it -- SBG/MBT/Specifications/etc. -- can seem intimidating at first. There’s a lot out there, and everyone ends up finding the best way for themselves. You can dip your toe into MBG (maybe using it only with tests or quizzes) rather than blowing up your entire class plan.
