This is the podcast of Grow Beyond Grades. Each episode we speak to educators who are transforming teaching and learning by grading less. Tune in and learn with us!
Episode 59 - From Grades to Student Voice: The Community for Learning Story
Join us for a Community Gathering with Carla Meyrink on Saturday, October 24, at 12 noon ET. RSVP here (https://growbeyondgrades.org/events/24oct26-community-gathering) to save your spot!
When Students Become Partners in Learning
At The Community for Learning in the Dominican Republic, curiosity and student-centered learning have long been central to the school's philosophy. But when grades were introduced, head of school Carla Meyrink noticed something troubling: students began focusing on marks rather than learning. What followed was a schoolwide journey toward assessment practices that put students back at the center.
In this conversation, Carla and I explore how students can help shape assessment criteria, use exemplars to understand quality, and develop the capacity to evaluate their own work. We discuss how writing conferences can transform feedback into genuine learning, why teachers need opportunities to reflect on their own practice, and how student voice can extend beyond the classroom. Carla shares the story of a student-led think tank that helped create Project Day—an example of what becomes possible when schools invite young people to help shape their own education.
Topics
How introducing grades changed students' relationships with learning.
Involving students in developing assessment criteria and understanding quality.
Using exemplars and self-assessment to build student ownership.
Why writing conferences can be more powerful than written feedback alone.
Helping teachers reflect on and improve their assessment practices.
Moving from student feedback to meaningful student voice.
How a student-led think tank helped bring Project Day to life.
What school leaders can do to create the conditions for learning beyond grades.
4 Oct 2026
Episode 58 - Navigating Ungrading and Workshop in a Graded World
Learning Without the Fear of Losing Points
For more than four decades, P. L. Thomas has been questioning the ways grades shape students’ relationships with learning. Beginning as a high school English teacher and continuing today as a professor of education at Furman University, Paul has experimented with delayed grading, revision, writing workshop, ungrading, and grade contracts.
In this conversation, Paul and Arthur Chiaravalli explore why students can experience feedback as judgment, how grading trains students to avoid risk, and why workshop asks students to see writing as an ongoing process rather than a one-shot performance. Paul also explains how grade contracts can create more adult relationships between teachers and students—and why assignments are better understood as “teaching and learning experiences” rather than evaluations.
Topics
Why even high-achieving students can experience feedback as criticism.
Revision, writing workshop, and learning through multiple attempts.
How grades and point systems can make students risk-averse.
Grade contracts as a way to build trust and clarify expectations.
Why mistakes and experimentation are necessary parts of learning.
What writing workshop actually requires from teachers and students.
Navigating ungrading when schools and universities still require final grades.
Practical ways educators can begin moving away from averaging and traditional grading practices.
30 Sept 2026
Episode 57 - No Grades, High Stakes: The New College Story
A Different Kind of College
This conversation explores what made New College of Florida distinct: narrative evaluations, contracts, tutorials, ISP projects, and a deeply student-centered culture. Professors Rebecca Black, Jessica Young, Liz Leininger, and Jenn Wells reflect on how that model transformed teaching and learning, supported risk-taking, and shaped relationships between students and faculty.They also discuss the labor required to sustain narrative assessment, the fragility of that system after the takeover, and what educators can carry forward from a place that no longer exists in the same form.
Topics
New College’s narrative evaluations, contracts, tutorials, and independent study.
How alternative assessment encouraged risk-taking and richer feedback.
Teaching as partnership and the importance of student-faculty relationships.
How students adapted from grades, perfectionism, and constant tracking.
The labor and culture required to sustain meaningful narrative assessment.
What educators can carry forward from New College’s student-centered model.
Grief, community, and what remains when a cherished institution is dismantled.
Who has been a guest on Grow Beyond Grades
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Mike Rutherford
Angela Stockman
Dr Kelsie Reed
Akil Bello
Paul Emerich France
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
YouTube views
2,460
Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025
Apple Podcasts (US)
4.7 / 5
3 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
3 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 28 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
17
Social presence
0
YouTube
68
Engagement
32
Contact Grow Beyond Grades
Guest appearances
Does not typically book guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Questions about Grow Beyond Grades
Who hosts Grow Beyond Grades?
[Host Name] host the show. Published by Grow Beyond Grades.
How often do new episodes come out?
The show publishes monthly, based on its RSS feed.
Does Grow Beyond Grades take guests?
The show does not typically feature guests, based on episode analyses.
Host of Grow Beyond Grades?
Claim your podcast to manage its listing and keep your show details accurate.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
