Nursing Education

Alternative Grading Frameworks for Nursing Education

by Paulina Guerrero
A computer for studying

As education and pedagogy have evolved, differing systems of assessments and grading infrastructure have been positioned to provide alternatives to standard, numeric-based grading systems. These are largely to configure a vision of learning that gives students intrinsic motivation for learning and, particularly in medicine, ensuring competency in nationalized standards that students must pass in order to become clinicians. One particular grading assessment framework that has been used in different disciplines is the Ungrading Framework.

 The Ungrading framework as Susan D Blum says in the seminal work Ungrading: Why Grading Students Undermines Learning, and what We can do Instead defines Ungrading as, “…focus[ing] on increasing students’ intrinsic motivation [which] often taps into students’ curiosity.”(3) According to Blum, some of the top medical schools use the Ungrading framework to rely less on typical alpha-numeric grade metrics and more on basic pass-fail for earlier classes, and encouraging a more collaborative approach for later classes. Blum says, 

Most elite medical schools (eighteen of the top twenty medical schools) use only pass-fail grades for preclinical courses. In 2017 as many as ninety-six medical schools used simple pass-fail systems; twenty-six used honors, pass, fail; and thirteen used honors, high pass, pass, fail. Only twenty-eight used numerical or letter-grade systems. The argument is that students’ grades in basic science courses show no meaningful correlation with their later quality as practicing physicians. Medical schools have also largely eliminated a focus on grades because they have been plagued by high rates of suicide; these reforms aim in part to ameliorate some pressures by creating more cooperative communities— something that surely is relevant for institutions serving undergraduates, said to have “epidemic” levels of anxiety. (12) 

There are many critics of the Ungrading framework as being only as good as student abilities for self-evaluating, or that it might unknowingly contribute to equity gaps. There is also critique that it doesn’t necessarily enhance student assessment. However, unilaterally, Ungrading research shows that student and instructor engagement exponentially increases. It also reduces stress and creates intrinsic motivation in learning. Other findings indicate that clinical practice is elevated and there is stronger alignment with overall competency-based education. 

Ungrading also exists on a spectrum. It does not mean that accountability, responsibility, deadlines, and rigor are absent from assessments. Many professors that embrace the Ungrading philosophy might have standard alpha-numeric grading for some assignments, and not others. They may also have standard grading for the first third of the semester, and then switch to a dialectic submit, feedback, return and resubmit assignment process. These are just a few examples of the myriad of ways professors in STEM fields have used to enhance assessment, instructor and student relationships, and competency.

For more information about using Ungrading in Nursing education, check out the following articles: 

Reference: 

Ungrading : Why Rating Students Undermines Learning (and What to Do Instead), edited by Susan D. Blum, West Virginia University Press, 2020. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/vcu/detail.action?docID=6370466.Created from vcu on 2026-07-26 14:22:20. 

Categories Assessment and Measurement, Learner Engagement, Learning Objectives