What’s your actual grading philosophy? I’ve been rethinking mine after 12 years.

After twelve years of teaching, my breaking point arrived when a student glanced at an essay I’d spent twenty minutes feedbacking, checked the C-minus in the corner, and tossed it straight into the recycling bin. He didn't read a single comment. That was the moment I realized my traditional grading system wasn't teaching anyone; it was just auditing compliance. That experience forced me to rebuild a growth-oriented, evidence-based philosophy because traditional points systems inherently punish the learning curve. If a student masters a standard by week ten, it shouldn't matter that they blew it on week two. A final grade should reflect where a student ultimately landed, not serve as a cumulative ledger of how many times they tripped along the way. To make this work without drowning in extra paperwork, I shifted to a hybrid specifications grading model. Daily practice and first drafts are now strictly complete or incomplete, which eliminates point-chasing and encourages actual academic risk-taking. Major grades are tied to skills-based rubrics, allowing students to revise and resubmit core assessments only if they include a targeted reflection detailing how they applied previous feedback. This structural shift transformed grading from a weaponized, one-way judgment into a transparent, ongoing conversation about growth. Are you looking to strip down your overall grading workload, or are you trying to fix a specific misalignment between student effort and final marks?