Do grades provide an accurate snapshot of a student’s performance? Or are they anxiety-producing scores that prevent educators from focusing on true learning?In an Education Week opinion essay by Mark Barnes, the creator and publisher of the popular Hack Learning book series, he writes that gradeless classrooms are a “brave new world” that more educators need to embrace. “Teachers would learn how to effectively assess academic performance, and students would become independent learners, driven by curiosity and inspiration rather than by the empty promise of a ‘good’ grade or the threat of a ‘bad’ one,” Barnes writes.