Within these classes, students worked on their writing for more than a week, read entire books, completed individual and group research projects, and worked on tasks that combined different content areas. These students were given more challenging and substantial homework than other elementary classes. These teachers used fewer worksheets and more complex assignments throughout the school day. Finally, these teachers evaluated their students based on effort and improvement rather than performance level. This allowed all students to have the opportunity to achieve good grades. Many teachers grade based on fairness, which allows high-achieving students to do less work to get good grades, while low-achieving students are unable to get good grades regardless of their effort or improvement. In order for the teacher to grade for effort and improvement, they must truly know their students to grade. They must recognize student growth and effort