When first hearing that we don't give grades at Acton Academy, it's natural to wonder why. Grades are so familiar to us — so deeply woven into our experience of school — that their absence can easily raise questions about expectations, rigor, and accountability.
Maybe we don't believe in high standards. Or perhaps we think critique is an affront to the unique creativity of each child and must be eliminated.
Thankfully neither of those are accurate.
Yes, it's true that we don't give grades. But not for the reasons you might think.
You see, instead of grades, we award badges. A badge, much like a merit badge from the Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts, signifies mastery of a topic, equal to an A+ under normal standards. And in fact, the requirements to earn a badge align (and in most cases significantly exceed) the requirements to earn a grade under traditional paradigms.
So why have we taken this approach?
Well, there are a few reasons, actually.
The first is that we think it's important to master a topic before moving on to something else.
Because many topics build upon themselves, failure to master foundational concepts will compound over time as new, more complex ones are layered on top. In time, these gaps in the foundation will create increasing problems, eventually causing the entire structure to crumble.
Take math, for example. Addition flows into subtraction, multiplication transitions nicely into division, and all of these are necessary for algebra. However, if a child is still struggling with addition, it does him no good to move on to subtraction or multiplication. In fact, doing so will likely do little more than create an aversion to math and lead him to conclude that learning is something to be avoided.
The second reason is less intuitive and often goes unappreciated, but I actually think it is more important. It doesn't show up on a standardized test or any other measurable form of assessment, but it does have enormous ramifications on the growth of the child. And it has to do with a mindset of mediocrity.
If we allow work that is less than mastery to suffice for a child, the unspoken message that we are sending is that "just okay" is good enough. Excellence doesn't matter. Doing the best work that you are capable of isn't important. "Just okay" is enough to check the box and move on.
I've become convinced that these kinds of mindset and identity elements are actually more important than the academic work itself. I know that sounds unusual, maybe even heretical, for a school director to say, but the mindset children develop will follow them well beyond their years of formal education and will impact them throughout their lives.
This is why our goal isn't to just create good academic students. If we create good academic students who see learning as something to be avoided, who only want to do the minimum to satisfy an external demand, or who lack the courage to take on meaningful challenges, then we have failed. Cultivating a mindset of mediocrity is one surefire way to achieve this.
Instead, we're zooming out to their entire life, recognizing the mindset, skills, worldview, and identity that are necessary for your young heroes to reach their fullest potential. We're out to create curious, creative people who love learning, who embrace challenge, and who will spend the rest of their lives pursuing important work because they believe they are capable of it and because the world needs it of them. In short, heroes who will change the world.
So why don't we give grades?
Well, I'd encourage you to consider what we are giving instead. We are giving them a message that they are capable of excellent work, that they can persevere through the challenges they encounter, and that it's not okay to settle for just okay. We are giving them the joy that comes with overcoming something difficult, rather than moving on and declaring that it was too hard. And we are giving them a rock-solid foundation of learning without gaps that will erode over time.
And we think that's more valuable than a simple letter.
