The Trouble With “Ungrading”: Toward Disciplinary Specificity in Alternative Writing Assessment

Responding to the emergent discourse around “ungrading,” this essay articulates the need for disciplinary conversations about alternative writing assessments, conversations that center work on antiracism, Black Linguistic Justice, and anti-ableist composition pedagogies and policies. From that foundation, we argue, we have the chance to build concrete, specific, and equitable alternative assessment practices that also include the practices and voices of the faculty and graduate students most likely to be teaching first-year composition courses.