⏤ 🟡 DRAFT – EARLY WORK IN PROGRESS 🟡 ⏤
A Note to Faculty: GOAL Is for You, Too
Assessment reform is often framed as being “for students.” And it is — but it’s also for you. Faculty deserve assessment systems that are ethical, sustainable, and rooted in purpose.
Too often, traditional grading leaves instructors overwhelmed, conflicted, or disconnected from the joy of teaching. GOAL offers another way: a framework that makes assessment more meaningful and more manageable. It’s not about lowering standards — it’s about raising them in ways that support both students and educators.
How GOAL Helps Faculty
- Less Grading Dread: Iteration and flexible pacing mean feedback is spread across manageable cycles, not concentrated in high-stakes marathons. You respond to growth, not just to mistakes, and your comments have visible impact.
- More Authentic Engagement: When assessments connect to students’ lives and disciplines, their work feels more distinctive and energizing to read. Authenticity and agency reduce the sense of “grading the same paper 40 times.”
- Fairness Without Burnout: By designing equity and flexibility in from the start, you spend less time negotiating one-off exceptions and more time focusing on learning. GOAL’s proactive design minimizes last-minute crises and hidden inequities.
- Stronger Relationships with Students: When students see the purpose, process, and pathways of assessment, trust grows. Conversations shift from points to progress, making teaching feel more collaborative and rewarding.
Why It Matters
Faculty deserve assessment practices that 1) align with research on how people actually learn, 2) reduce unnecessary stress and grading overload, 3) affirm their values of fairness, equity, and rigor, and 4) reconnect them with the satisfaction of seeing students grow.
GOAL is not just about what students need — it’s about what you need, too. By shifting assessment from gatekeeping to growth, GOAL helps faculty build classrooms that are more sustainable, more equitable, and more joyful.