Claim: Measuring student performance with the U.S. grading system is a hindrance to learning.

Letter grades provide an easily understood, standardized system that can be universally applied. They aren't perfect, but they allow students and others to easily and meaningfully conceptualize success. 

Actress and Constituting America Founder Janine Turner’s essay champions the principle of meritocracy, suggesting that rewarding individuals based on merit fosters a fair society. 

Meritocracy promotes equality of opportunity, allowing individuals to succeed based on their abilities, not background, aligning with the U.S. grading system's intent to assess individual performance. 

The essay argues that rewarding merit drives innovation and economic growth, a direct counter to the claim that grading systems hinder learning. 

It also posits that merit-based leadership selection ensures competence, implying that the U.S. grading system, by identifying and promoting talented individuals, supports societal improvement, directly challenging the claim that it is a hindrance to learning.

Massimiliano Polastri, from the University Hospital St. Orsola-Malpighi in Bologna, suggests in his 2017 paper that merit-based systems, where rewards are given for intellectual or manual labor, enhance motivation, collaboration, flexibility, and well-being among individuals. 

This supports the claim that a system measuring performance, like the U.S. grading system, can facilitate learning by providing clear incentives for improvement.

Robert J. Marzano, an education researcher, in Classroom Assessment and Grading That Work (2006) and co-authors in The Highly Engaged Classroom (2010), argue:

Grades serve multiple purposes beyond just summative assessment. They provide students with feedback that can guide their learning and improve self-efficacy, which is linked to better academic performance. 

Marzano emphasizes the importance of frequent, clear feedback to help students understand their progress and how to improve. 

Norfolk Public Schools recognizes the necessity of formal grade reporting for summative information, ensuring grades reflect achievement in relation to standards, and promoting consistency and meaningful communication to stakeholders. 

These points suggest that the U.S. grading system, when used correctly, supports learning rather than hindering it.

This article references a study by Butler and Nisan (1986). The study examines the effects on learning outcomes when different methods of feedback were applied to 261 6th grade students. The feedback methods applied were a standard letter grade; written feedback but no letter grade; and no feedback. Follow up assessments were done to test for improvement in learning outcomes based on the method of feedback. It was found that written feedback alone outperformed a standard letter grade or no feedback.

We compared academic motivation at institutions with different grading systems. Grades did not enhance academic motivation. Instead, grades enhanced anxiety and avoidance of challenging courses. In contrast, narrative evaluations supported basic psychological needs and enhanced motivation by providing actionable feedback, promoting trust between instructors and students and cooperation amongst students.

This article from Inside Higher Ed highlights how the U.S. grading system, by focusing on grades rather than learning, can hinder student development. 

Historically, grades were not designed for students' benefit but for institutional communication. 

This emphasis on grades leads students and parents to prioritize scores over learning, which could limit educational growth. 

The article suggests that the system's structure, where high stakes are placed on grades, pressures students to focus on performance metrics rather than genuine understanding or skill development. 

The obsession with grades, driven by the need for high GPAs for future opportunities, often results in students equating grades with intelligence, which can distort learning goals. 

Thus, the current grading system might indeed be a hindrance to fostering a learning environment focused on personal and intellectual growth.

Education researcher and author Alfie Kohn presents findings from educational psychology studies in the 1980s and '90s:

Grades diminish students' interest in learning, creating a negative impact on intrinsic motivation. This supports the claim that the U.S. grading system hinders learning by shifting focus from education to grade attainment. 

Grades encourage students to choose easier tasks to ensure better marks, which is rational behavior but detrimental to intellectual risk-taking and genuine learning. 

Grades reduce the quality of thinking, with students more likely to skim for testable information rather than engage deeply with material, directly challenging the effectiveness of grading in fostering deep understanding.

NPR reports that universities like Texas Christian University and others are experimenting with un-grading, a method gaining traction due to the perceived inadequacy of traditional grading systems in the face of recent educational disruptions.

Critics argue that traditional grades are poor motivators for deep learning, with Jody Greene from UC Santa Cruz suggesting that grades do not reflect true learning. 

Jack Schneider from UMass points out that the focus on grades has "negatively distorted student motivation for generations," implying that the emphasis on grades can detract from actual learning and personal development.

This supports the claim that traditional grading hinders learning by prioritizing grade achievement over educational growth.

Education researchers from Queen's University and Memorial University of Newfoundland have conducted a study revealing that an obsession with grades poses significant threats to student well-being, learning, and equitable education.

Grades encourage competition and comparison, which can harm student relationships and lower self-esteem.

The fixation on grades leads to a superficial learning approach where students memorize rather than understand concepts, reducing creativity and risk-taking.

Grades, often derived from narrow measures like tests, can marginalize students with diverse learning styles, particularly those from Indigenous backgrounds who value a holistic approach to learning. 

The study's findings suggest that the current grading system, by fostering an unhealthy focus on grades, hinders deeper learning and the integration of feedback.

This analysis by Dan Goldhaber & Maia Goodman Young from the Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research at the American Institutes for Research found that Washington state students' grades spiked during the pandemic, but did not align with year-end test performance, particularly in math.

The discrepancy between grades and test scores highlights that grades have become less predictive of student achievement, suggesting that the grading system misleads parents about their children's learning progress.

The sudden jump in grades following state guidance not to assign failing grades during the transition to remote learning further indicates that external policies can artificially inflate grades, reducing their effectiveness as a measure of true student performance.

This undermines the claim by showing that grades, influenced by such policies, do not accurately reflect learning, thus hindering the identification of students needing support.