Hamilton parents concerned about “gradeless learning” trial at local high school

Parents from a Hamilton secondary school started the school year with a letter informing them that their children would be part of a “gradeless learning” trial in secondary classrooms.

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Parents from a Hamilton secondary school started the school year with a letter informing them that their children would be part of a “gradeless learning” trial in secondary classrooms.

The two-page letter shared with True North described the approach as “graded through observation and conversation” with students expected to become “determiners of their own success.” Grade 12 students were told they would be “their own assessors,” required to “discern their own achievement with the guidance of the teacher and achieve success along the way.”

The document acknowledged that the approach might be unclear, stating that “[s]ometimes without a grade, students may lack some clarity at first as to how they are doing but if reflections are completed and conversations are had with their teacher, that disparity in terms of criteria of success should become clear.” The teacher explained that the course would be “going gradeless but not anti-grade. Rather, we are pro-feedback, which will initially mean there are no grades.”

Similar initiatives have already been implemented in other provinces. In 2023, the B.C. government eliminated traditional letter grades (A, B, C, D) for students in Kindergarten through Grade 9 and introduced a “proficiency scale” with descriptive terms such as emerging, developing, proficient, and extending.

Polling conducted by Leger for the Fraser Institute found that parents across Canada overwhelmingly prefer letter grades. According to Paige MacPherson, Associate Director of Education Policy at the Fraser Institute, “What I can tell you from our research is that [gradeless learning] is not in line with parents or what they actually want. Ninety-eight per cent of Canadian parents say that regular, clear assessment of student performance is important to them.”

MacPherson noted that while 93 per cent of parents said an “A” was clear and easy to understand, “only 26 per cent of parents in Canada could correctly identify what ‘extending’ means.”

Ontario’s Ministry of Education leaves room for boards to shape their assessment approaches. The province’s Growing Success policy does not call for eliminating grades, but it does emphasize “providing descriptive feedback that moves learners forward” and “empowering students to become owners of their own learning.” Ministry guidance also highlights teachers’ “professional judgement” in determining how best to assess students.

The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, the province’s largest teachers’ union, has historically opposed standardized testing, arguing that it undermines teacher autonomy, including how educators assess learning. The union did not respond to a request for comment on gradeless learning.

Some experts warn that eliminating grades, particularly for senior students preparing for post-secondary education, could do more harm than good.

Stephen Reich, professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, told True North that framing “feedback versus grades” as an either-or choice is misguided. “Both process and final outcome are important,” he said. “Students ought to know if their efforts merit a particular grade in preparation for the following year, whether at school or in post-secondary education.”

Reich criticized reflections and rubrics as time-consuming and less effective than direct, corrective feedback. While he welcomed fewer one-off projects, which often lack formative assessment, he stressed that this does not justify removing grades altogether.

“Removing teacher grading at the end of the year and handing the task over to the student is a dereliction of duty,” Reich said. “The teacher is the expert; the student is the novice.”

He also cautioned that without final exams or major papers to provide objective benchmarks, grading risks becoming subjective. “Without a final exam or paper to provide an objective measure, grading becomes highly subjective and puts teachers in the bind of choosing between merit and what a student needs for admission.”

True North requested comment from Hamilton Wentworth District School Board regarding the scope and rationale of the gradeless learning trial, but did not receive a response by publication time.