Asao Inoue, a large contributor to this topic, wrote in his book Labor-Based Grading Contracts: Building Equity and Inclusion in the Compassionate Writing Classroom, "Designing fair and meaningful grading practices is about cultivating with our students an ecology, a place where every student, no matter where they come from or how they speak or write, can have access to the entire range of final course grades possible.
"[2] In traditional grading, educators determine assignments, exams, and projects before the course begins.
In his article published in the journal College English, Elbow suggests that writing assessment be based on effort rather than on a subjective evaluation aligned with a standard.
[9] Once the student determines the number of works he or she chooses to complete, contracts are then signed and agreed upon.
There is a grace period for changing of contracts, but it is ultimately up to the professor to accept or to reject any proposals.
[10] In 1912–1913, Daniel Starch and Edward Charles Elliott conducted a study on the unreliability of academic grading curriculum.
They found that there were no significant increases in learning in a grading system based on absolute standards.
[12] It was made clear to Starch and Elliott that every instructor has their own difference in view in regards to academic performance.
The same result occurred with mathematics, two student papers were sent to 128 high school math instructors.
These scores were the results of whether an instructor gave credit for showing work or graded solely based on the answer the student chose.
Students at both education levels reacted to the contract grading system in a positive manner.
When asked to rank the effectiveness and importance of the various aspects of contract grading, students reported that the key elements were the control they felt they had by being able to determine their grades, the clearly stated expectations for performance in the course, criterion referencing of assignments, and the mastery approach to learning.
Due to the freedom allowed by the system, time management skills are acquired and exercised.
Evaluating a student's performance in the course based on knowledge alone can lead to racially disparate outcomes.
In addition to concerns for the individual student, contract grading is largely dependent upon implementation by the instructor.
An instructor may, through this grading system, cause students to take on greater responsibility for learning and success while simultaneously restricting freedom.