TO NEW GRADUATE INSTRUCTORS
FROM PETER ELBOW, 8/96
ABOUT USING A CONTRACT GRADING SYSTEM

First I’ll put here a copy of the contract I am going to use this fall in my first year writing class.  Then I’ll talk about the possibility of using other variations of contract grading.

INSERT MY CONTRACT

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EXPLORING VARIOUS WAYS TO USE CONTRACT GRADING

The essential principle in using a contract is to take the emphasis off measuring the quality of writing, and instead put the emphasis asking for activities or behaviors.  So the task is to try to figure out which activities or behaviors will best help them learn to be better writers.  And just asking for them directly--instead of hoping that they will follow from evaluating their writing.  

The simplest things to ask for in a contract are crudely behavioral:  e.g., come to class, get drafts in on time, produce a certain number of pages.  But what intrigues me is that we can ask for more complicated things.  The essential principle is to figure out what you want--as long as you can avoid conceptualizing it in terms of quality (words like “better, good, poor”) and instead conceptualize it in terms of “things to do.”  The goal is never to have to distinguish between doing it well or badly--but just whether it does done or not done--whether it is there or not there.

For example, you’ll notice me asking for certain things in my contract that are a perhaps a little dicey or slippery:  effort;  involvement;  perplexity.  I finally decided that as long as I’m not going to require a huge amount of these, that I can simply make them crude simple binaries:  and tell students, “I need a decent amount of these things”--and tell them when I think they are falling short.  And I always give them one “warning” case.  (“Not enough effort here;  next time this happens I will consider you not fulfilling the contract for the B.”)  And also they can dispute me when I question their effort--and this can lead to good discussions.

But don’t forget:  I am not getting rid of all evaluative or “quality” talk from the course.  I am only getting rid of it from official bureaucratic grading.  That is, using a contract I give them as much or as little evaluative talk as I want in feedback to their writing.  I can blabber away evaluatively to my heart’s content.  But students know that my evaluative talk has no effect on their official grade--as long as they fulfill the behaviors.  I like this because I think it helps them think more seriously about my feedback--instead of the way so many students habitually respond.  Of course they comply with what the teacher wants or asks for or values--for the sake of the grade;  they don’t even feel they have a choice.  But for that very reason, they tend, consciously or unconsciously, to resent it.  A contract gives them a chance to make a real choice as to whether to agree with the teachers feedback and suggestions.

Main task in working out a contract.  Figure out what behaviors or activities will help them learn and be better writers?  But describe those behaviors or activities without using evaluative words like “better” or “quality” or “good/excellent”?  Describe them in terms of “yes or no” or “things to do” or “present or absent.”

The contract principle gives you a chance to be adventuresome and ask for what’s really important.  For example, I’m thinking perhaps that I could put in the contract the requirement to find an ally reader for yourself--and be an ally reader for someone else.  I’m curious to hear other ideas.  However, if you are new to using a contract, probably you shouldn’t experiment too wildly.

Other principles.  
--It can’t be too hard;  everyone must be capable of it.  (E.g. On my requirement for copy-editing on four or five final drafts for publication, they can get help.  
--We have to be fair.  Frankly, it’s a kind of legalistic approach, and we have to fulfill the contract;  not cheat.  (However, when it comes to certain slightly fuzzy issues--like perplexity or copy-editing--I’m liable to push some students a bit harder than others.  That is if someone is giving good effort but is temperamentally very rigid (perhaps a fundamentalist student), I have to be satisfied with small bits of “perplexity.”  Ditto with copy-editing.) 

You could even ask for concrete features in writing.  Instead of asking for “perplexity,” it might be that I should have said more concretely, “on most papers show that you have at least a bit of commitment or caring for points of view that are in conflict with each other.”  Or, “Find some places in your mind where you are not sure of yourself on your topic--and make sure that some parts of your paper actually spell out some of that unsureness.  Not just ‘I’m not sure about this’, but spell out some of the conflicting feelings or thoughts.”

***
Hybrid contracts

It is possible to use the contract principle and take quite a lot of emphasis of grading--and yet not entirely outlaw issues of quality, particularly for the grade of A.  There is something to be said for the principle that students should be able to earn up to a B by means of diligence as to process--but the grade of A really ought to reflect an emphasis on product and quality.  (And to be quite frank, the Writing Program needs to ask you to avoid making requirements for A or A/B so easy that more than half the students do it.  It’s not fair to students and we get in trouble as a program if there is too much difference between the grading of different instructors.) 

For example one might have a contract that worked more less like this:

If you meet the following requirements, you are guaranteed a final grade of B.  You can get a higher final grade (a) if I give you an “honors” citation on more than half your major assignments in the second half of the semester;  and (b) if I judge your final portfolio to be of “honors” quality.  I’ll try to be as clear as I can in class about my criteria for honors.

You could even phrase it differently--to put a little more emphasis on quality--yet still not having to put conventional grades on all their papers--with all the hassles that involves:
If you meet all the performance requirements, your final grade will be somewhere from A to B--depending on the quality of your major assignments (especially during the second half of the semester) and your final portfolio.

If you fall somewhat behind in your performance criteria, your final grade will be from B to C/D--depending on the quality of your assignments and portfolio.

If you fall substantially behind in your performance criteria, your final grade will be from C/D to F.

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SHORTEST PROSE:
I have found that conventional grading often leads my students to think more about grades than about writing;  to worry more about pleasing me or psyching me out than about figuring out what you really want to say or how you want to say it;  to be reluctant to take risks with your writing.  Grading even makes some students feel they are working against me.  Therefore I am using a contract system for grading in this course.  

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LONGEST WORDIEST VERSION;  UMASS.

[Here is a passage from my hand-out to my section of the required freshman writing course.  I don’t call this system ideal;  I continue to fiddle with it;  but I think it helps me towards the kind of learning climate I seek.]

ABOUT GRADING 
....
It’s my hope, frankly, that you will just work at meeting the contract for a B and take this as a chance to see where effort and thinking take you and forget about grades for the whole semester.  (Remember that the University considers even a B an honors grade.)

This system might look artificial at first, but there’s nothing natural about regular grading.  And it may sound legalistic as I explain it, but I want to make sure there are no misunderstandings.

When I first tried this system, I didn’t specify effort and thinking and I sometimes got writing that was just going through the motions.  I need more than that.  So what do I mean by effort?  Well, you don’t have to suffer for a B;  it’s okay if you are having fun with your writing, even fooling around sometimes.  But you do have to concentrate and give focused full attention.  And what do I mean by thinking?  Your writing doesn’t have to be true or logical;  it’s okay if your ideas are odd or if I disagree violently with them.  But you do have to make the mental and intellectual gears turn.  You have to be genuinely engaged in figuring things out.  Thinking, by the way, is the main thing that’s needed for “college” or “academic” writing.  In one sense, then, I’m not pushing you;  but in another sense I clearly am.  That is, you don’t have to worry about “quality” in one sense of the word (true excellence--whatever that is), but you do have to worry about “quality” in another sense (substance).

I hope you like this system.  It will let you experiment and take chances in your writing and you can’t lose (as long as you don’t cop out).  I will give you honest feedback and tell you where your writing seems strong or weak or doesn’t work for me--but that will be feedback, not grading.  You can experience me as coach and ally rather than someone to psych out or try to con, because my criticism will not count against you.  You can learn and benefit from any criticism I give you without feeling threatened by it.

But you don’t have to like this system.  Some students don’t.  You will probably have to work harder for a B here than in certain other courses--where if you are good at the subject you can get an A for just showing up at the exams.  But I’m not asking for any more work here than I asked for when I graded in the regular way--and no more work than other ENG 112 teachers ask.  We in the Writing Program see no reason why this course should be less demanding than, say, math or physics.  After all writing is probably more important in its payoff than math or physics since writing has been demonstrated to be the major ability that correlates with success in college.  In other words, even though I’m wanting this to be, in a way, a “nice” system, I’m not pretending to wield less power or authority than if I graded conventionally.  The point is that I am trying to use that authority and focus that power in a more productive way.

WRITING PROGRAM ATTENDANCE AND LATENESS POLICY  
You are allowed two absences (one week’s worth) during the semester, no questions asked.  These absences are intended to cover the occasional emergency, illness and sports conflict.  Save them.  Except for exceptional circumstances, being sick or being on a team does not entitle you to an extra absence.  For each absence over two, you lose a half-grade for the semester.  If you come without an adequate draft on a day it is due, you will be counted as absent.  Missing one of the three regularly scheduled conferences counts as two absences.  If you come consistently late, latenesses turn into absences.  If you miss class, you are still responsible for the material and content of the class.  Set up a buddy system today--so you can always find out what you missed.

FINAL WORD.  
You may be better able to understand my behavior as a teacher if I tell you my highest priorities, goals, hungers--what’s driving me.  I care most about two things:  (1) that you should all learn to like writing and learn to use it as part of your lives--not just for academic duties;  (2) that you should use writing to help you with hard thinking--stretch your minds, wonder and question and try to figure things out.

***
ADJUSTMENTS:
WHY CAN’T WE ASK FOR WHAT WE REALLY WANT?

--Passion vs. perplexity.  Some essays grow out of a sense of conviction and passion:  you write because you KNOW something is true.  No question.  That’s fine (though it does pay to question those passions now and then).  It’s fine for a couple of your essays to grow out of that passion and certainty.  But what’s more important for your growth as a writer and thinker (and alive person) is to learn to write out of perplexity and questioning.  Therefore I learned to make a simple, crude, crass rule on this matter.  To satisfy the contract, I’m asking that at least one draft of your main essays clearly grow out of perplexity:  that the writing grow not out of saying what you already know and understand but out of the drive to figure out something you don’t know.  We’ll talk about this in class.  
	Other terms here:  figuring something out;  cognitive dissonance;  intellectual risk taking (something has to be at risk).  Driven by a germ of perplexity, wondering, not understanding;  driven by a NOT knowing.  Exploration.
	Got to end up saying things in the essay that you didn’t know or feel or believe when you started;  got to be discovery and surprise.