Specifications Grading

In this course, you will determine the grade you receive by submitting a grade contract declaration for my approval on Monday, August 29 Links to an external site.. Your contract will be complete when you submit your final self-assessment by December 13.

Why Take A Different Approach to Grading?

As you no doubt know, grading can be a contentious issue in college courses, particularly in writing- and discussion-based courses, where grades can seem arbitrary and contestable. Grading in school does not much resemble the way you will be evaluated in your lives or careers, where you will define many of your own goals and be measured by how responsibly and effectively you achieve them. To quote Cathy Davidson, a professor at CUNY from whom most of my ideas about specifications grading are adapted:

The advantage of contract grading is that you, the student, decide how much work you wish to do this semester; if you complete that work on time and satisfactorily, you will receive the grade for which you contracted. This means planning ahead, thinking about all of your obligations and responsibilities this semester and also determining what grade you want or need in this course. The advantage of contract grading to the professor is no whining, no special pleading, on the students part. If you complete the work you contracted for, you get the grade. Done. I respect the student who only needs a C, who has other obligations that preclude doing all of the requirements to earn an A in the course, and who contracts for the C and carries out the contract perfectly. (This is another one of those major life skills: taking responsibility for your own workflow.)

Specifications Grading Details

In this course, you will decide in advance the grade you intend to work toward. So long as you complete the work specified for your contracted grade, you will receive that grade when the semester ends. [By August 29, you will declare the grade you intend to earn](CREATE FORM AND LINK) using the form provided in Canvas. Periodically during the semester you will evaluate your progress toward that goal.

Assessing Assignments

You will no doubt notice that every assignment in this class is assessed with low point values (2 for most class preparation assignments; 1 for most writing assignments) and a complete/incomplete designation rather than a letter grade. This is because no assignment in this class will be graded as an A, B, C, or D. In short, I am concerned that you give each assignment your best effort and are willing to revise when necessary, rather than being keen to assign an arbitrary value to each thing you produce in this class. I have tried to make the expectations for each assignment clear—and will be happy to consult if anything is unclear!—and from there we will work together to bring each assignment to where it needs to be. In short, in this class, as in many assignments in the real world, something is either done to satisfaction or it is not. If it is done, then you have accomplished the goal and receive full credit, and if it's not you can keep working on it. 

I want to emphasize that you should feel fully empowered to work toward whatever grade is feasible for you this term. One reason I like specifications grading (sometimes called contract grading) is that it acknowledges something we all know but sometimes ignore: students have many reasons for being in a class, many different goals for a class, and many competing demands on their time. If you need (or would just like) to spend a bit less time on this class and earn a "B" or a "C," so you can focus your energies elsewhere, that is fine. Really and truly, I will not be offended. I provide this system to give you a way to make those kinds of decisions actively, responsibly, and without guilt. I'm just as pleased to have a busy student do less, but still excellent, work toward a "B" as I am to have one with the time to put in "A" work for this class. 

Guidelines for All Grades

To fulfill any grade contract a student must do the following. When writing self assessments students must describe how they have met these requirements in addition to the grade-specific requirements:

  1. Prepare any assigned readings, videos, or other media, come to class with class preparation questions or observations, and participate actively in class discussions. 
  2. Check in with Prof. Cordell at least once every three weeks, either by joining student hours (in person or virtual) or by chatting after class.
  3. Revise assignments, per the chosen grade contract, as necessary until both you and I consider them "Satisfactory" 
  4. Contribute substantive peer review for your colleagues' major writing assignments. 
  5. Complete a final self-assessment demonstrating that your work has met the agreed requirements, submitting it to Professor Cordell by 5pm on December 13.

"A" Contract

In addition to the items in "All Contracts" above, to receive an "A" in this course you agree to:

  1. Miss no more than one synchronous class.
  2. Take no more than one information overload day during the semester.
  3. Exceed expectations regarding in-class device according to the policies outlined in the device use rubric.
  4. Submit "Satisfactory" responses to all prewriting assignments.
  5. Submit drafts of all four major writing assignments and revise all four until they are deemed "Satisfactory."
  6. Earn at least 90% of available points on class preparation assignments. This could mean:
    • Receiving full credit for 90% of assignments, skipping up to 10% of them altogether;
    • Receiving partial credit for some assignments such that you net 90% of the total available points (e.g. a 2 on four assignments and a 1 on the fifth)
    • Some combination of the above conditions.

"B" Contract

In addition to the items in "All Contracts" above, to receive an "B" in this course you agree to:

  1. Miss no more than two synchronous classes.
  2. Take no more than one information overload day during the semester.
  3. Fully meet expectations expectations regarding in-class device according to the policies outlined in the device use rubric.****
  4. Submit "Satisfactory" responses to all prewriting assignments.
  5. Submit drafts of all four major writing assignments and revise at least three until they are deemed "Satisfactory." You may choose to leave one major writing assignment unrevised following peer review. 
  6. Earn at least 80% of available points on class preparation assignments. This could mean:
    • Receiving full credit for 80% of assignments, skipping up to 20% of them altogether;
    • Receiving partial credit for some assignments such that you net 80% of the total available points (e.g. a 2 on three assignments and a 1 on two more)
    • Some combination of the above conditions.

"C" Contract

In addition to the items in "All Contracts" above, to receive an "C" in this course you agree to:

  1. Miss no more than three synchronous classes.
  2. Take no more than two information overload days during the semester.
  3. Generally meet expectation regarding in-class device according to the policies outlined in the device use rubric.
  4. Submit "Satisfactory" responses to all prewriting assignments.
  5. Submit drafts of three major writing assignments and revise at least two until they are deemed "Satisfactory." You may choose to not submit one writing assignment, and to leave one submitted writing assignment unrevised following peer review. 
  6. Earn at least 70% of available points on class preparation assignments. This could mean:
    • Receiving full credit for 70% of assignments, skipping up to 30% of them altogether;
    • Receiving partial credit for some assignments such that you net 70% of the total available points (e.g. a 2 on three assignments, a 1 on a fourth, and skipping a fifth)
    • Some combination of the above conditions.

"D" and "F" Grades

I've borrowed this clause, too, from Cathy Davidson, because I cannot improve upon it:

The professor reserves the right to award a grade of D or F to anyone who fails to meet a contractual obligation in a systematic way. A "D" grade denotes some minimal fulfilling of the contract. An "F" is absence of enough satisfactory work, as contracted, to warrant passing of the course. Both a "D" and "F" denote a breakdown of the contractual relationship implied by signing any of the contracts described above.

What About Exceptional (or Mediocre) Work?

I also reserve the right to reward exceptional work throughout the semester using the full range of UIUC's grading scale. If you contract for a "B," for instance, and submit particularly strong pieces to fulfill that contract, I may elect to raise your contracted grade to a "B+."

Likewise, if you consistently submit mediocre work in fulfillment of your contract, I reserve the right to adjust your grade one half-step down (e.g. from "A" to "A-") or even, in extreme cases, a full step.

Contract Adjustments

Periodically during the semester I will ask you to evaluate your work thus far and compare it against what you agreed in your grade contract. In these moments you can also take the opportunity to request an adjustment to your contract in either direction. If you find that you will be unable to meet the obligations of your contract, you may request to move to the next lowest grade and its requirements. Contrariwise, if you find that you've been performing above the obligations of your contract, you may request to fulfill the requirements for the next higher grade.

Keeping Track

Important Note: In order to effectively evaluate your own progress, you must keep track of your work, including days missed, IO days taken, blogs completed, and so forth.