One of my favourite quotes attributed to Albert Einstein is, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result". Funny how even though I believe this and have proven it to myself many times in many aspects of my life, I still find myself doing the same thing and expecting different results.

What I have observed about students when they see graded assessments is fascinating. The first thing they do is look at the grade in the top corner. Rarely do students open up the test and scan for comments written by a teacher or the errors that they might have made. And even more rarely do they take time to understand their mistakes and correct them. Especially if the grade is lower than 70%.

As a new teacher in 2000, I was determined to change this mindset. I wanted students to take time to understand their mistakes and make corrections. The first thing I tried was to ask students to take responsibility for this themselves.

That failed. Students who had one or two mistakes sometimes made corrections. Students who had more corrections to make found it overwhelming. They needed guidance to understand their mistakes and that took time. So they never made any corrections.

So I regrouped. I decided to ask students to stay in at break to get the help they needed to correct their mistakes. That was a spectacular failure. But I was so convinced that correcting mistakes was important to mastering learning, that I stuck with this failed strategy for years. I tried asking students to have corrected tests signed by parents (often the tests were "lost" in transit). I created special "math clubs" at lunch and even brought in treats to provide incentive to attend and make test corrections (despite the treats, many students saw this as "punishment").

I read everything I could on how to provide meaningful feedback to students. When writing feedback on assessments still didn't encourage students to make corrections, I tried meeting with them one-on-one and sharing the feedback personally. Still no change.

It took 15 years for me to finally realize what should have been obvious. When students see a grade at the top of the page, regardless of the written feedback, they see the learning process as "finished". Why make corrections when they've already been "assigned" a grade?

The problem was the grade on the top of the page.

Finally, 3 years ago, I stopped putting grades on tests. And I developed a system that dramatically changed the way students approach mistakes and the learning process.

Here's what we do.

When students complete a test, we come together as a learning community to discuss solutions to each question. This gives every student the opportunity to ask questions, to see and hear how other students solved problems, and to clear up misconceptions right away. And then we take solutions off the board.

Here's the best part.

Before students hand in their tests, they have the opportunity to use a different colour pen to write notes on their own test and make corrections. They cannot erase anything they wrote during the test, but they can show their understanding of any mistakes they made by writing in the correct solution (or, in fact, an alternate solution that they want to remember even if their original solution is correct). Because they aren't copying solutions from the board, they write their own reflections and make corrections based on what they now understand. When their reflections and corrections show understanding of the concept, this is reflected in my assessment of their learning.

After students have completed their corrections and reflections, they photograph the test and upload it to their Google drive. This gives parents the opportunity to review the test without the risk of it getting lost in a backpack.

The class discussion helps students know immediately what mistakes they made and whether they need to seek extra help. In other words, they know immediately "how they did". And they have the opportunity to write notes to explain their mistakes.

Rather than the learning process ending when they complete a test, the learning process continues as they reflect and correct their mistakes.

When I first tried this, I expected to be challenged. And I was. By a handful of students. But when students realized that they knew exactly "how they did" after discussing solutions in class, the grade at the top became irrelevant.

Of course I assess the students' understanding and record a grade that reflects their understanding, but no grade is written on the top of the page.

The results?

• Students correct their mistakes!
• I get amazing reflections from students themselves about their understanding.
• Learning doesn't "end" because a grade is written on the top of the page.
• Students hear other students' strategies for solving problems and can add these to their problem-solving toolbox.
• Students archive corrected tests in their Google drive for reference throughout the year.

My experience mirrors education studies that Jo Boaler sites in her book, Mathematical Mindsets. Grading actually reduces the achievement of many students. In fact, students who did not receive grades achieve significantly higher than those who receive grades.

Removing grades from the top of students' work and giving students the opportunity to reflect immediately on their understanding may be the most powerful strategy I've discovered to encourage students to see learning as a process that involves making (and correcting!) mistakes.

To read more of Jo Boaler's insights and research, click here