Mastering Your Sales Pitch: Selling Mastery Grading to Your Students and Yourself

Abstract

When contemplating the introduction of mastery grading into the classroom, a fear of student resistance can prevent the implementation entirely. However, by taking a proactive stance against student resistance, instructors can give mastery grading the best chance of being successful. This paper focuses on the ways in which the instructor can properly motivate students and themselves in the mastery grading process. By motivating mastery grading, student resistance to the technique will hopefully be lessened and the result will be a positive mastery grading experience for both the instructor and students.

Keywords:

• Mastery grading
• mastery-based testing
• student buy-in
• student motivation

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jessica Stewart Kelly

Jessica Stewart Kelly studied functional analysis and special functions at Baylor University. Currently, she is an assistant professor at Christopher Newport University, a public liberal arts institution with about 5000 undergraduate students located in Newport News, Virginia. She enjoys teaching a wide variety of undergraduate mathematics courses and implementing innovative teaching strategies.