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Elisabeth M. Wennerth Ed.D., is a 2025 graduate of the Ed.D. program in Educational and Professional Practice at Antioch University.

Dissertation Committee:

Richard Kahn, Ph.D., Committee Chair

Kimberly Hardy, Ed.D., Committee Member

Gary Delanoeye, Ed.D., Committee Member

Keywords

resource guide, ungrading, relational trust, equity literacy, critical pedagogy, transformative learning, design for practice, understanding by design, secondary education, narrative feedback, co-created criteria, progress mapping, restorative practices

Document Type

Dissertation

Publication Date

2025

Abstract

This dissertation addresses a persistent problem in secondary education: the misalignment between traditional grading systems and equitable, humanizing learning. While alternative assessment movements (e.g., ungrading) are gaining momentum, many implementations falter not for lack of techniques or strategies but for lack of trust between teachers and students, among peers, and across school–family partnerships. Guided by the central research question, How can a teacher’s resource guidebook be designed to support high school educators in adopting ungrading practices that build and maintain high-trust relationships?, this design-for-practice study synthesizes literature and theory to produce a modular practitioner guide. The conceptual framework integrates relational trust theory, critical pedagogy, equity literacy, and transformative learning, and employs Understanding by Design (UbD) to align enduring understandings, acceptable evidence, and learning experiences. The resulting artifact titled Trust Before Grades: A Guide to Ungrading in Secondary Classrooms comprises four modules: (1) foundations of trust and ungrading, (2) classroom relationships and repair, (3) transparent structures (co-created success criteria, student-centered progress mapping with growth descriptors, narrative feedback, and conference protocols), and (4) sustaining change (reflection cycles, community building, and communication with families and administrators). Together, these modules relocate interpretive authority—who decides what counts as learning and how it is read—toward a transparent, shared process in which students gather, annotate, and narrate evidence while teachers moderate for challenge, growth, and equity. The discussion links design choices to research on trust, motivation, and assessment clarity, and goes on to articulate implications for practice (classroom routines that make trust visible), leadership (time protection and recognition of narrative/portfolio evidence), and teacher education (modeling consent-based feedback and moderation). As a design-for-practice study, this project privileges usability and transferability over experimental control, it does not make causal claims and has not yet been piloted at scale. Limitations and a future research agenda call for iterative implementation studies, equity audits of student voice and visibility, and policy analyses of narrative assessment acceptance. The contribution is a theory-aligned, field-ready guide that operationalizes ungrading as relational, transparent, and justice-centered practice. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).

Comments

ORCID No. 0009-0004-2382-697X

Bio: Dr. Elisabeth (Lisa) Wennerth is a curriculum developer at the nonprofit organization Facing History and Ourselves. An educator for more than twenty years, she began her career as an assistant camp director in Minnesota before moving into public education as a high school English teacher in Colorado. During that time, she also taught yoga to adults in local studios and later transitioned into curriculum design, where she continues to create resources that center equity, reflection, and relational trust in teaching and learning. Dr. Wennerth has been an active member of the ungrading organization Grow Beyond Grades, where several of her blog posts and podcasts explore the intersection of assessment, care, and educational justice. She holds a Doctor of Education in Educational Practice, a Master of Arts in English from Colorado State University, and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Kenyon College. Her dissertation, A Teacher’s Guide To Building And Maintaining High Trust Relationships In An Ungraded Classroom, uses the Professional Innovation Dissertation model to examine how trust can be intentionally built and sustained in ungraded classrooms, resulting in the creation of a teacher’s guide designed for real-world classroom use. A lifelong educator and learner, Dr. Wennerth lives in the high desert of northern Colorado, where she enjoys running and spending time with her husband, daughter, and their Great Pyrenees.

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