I wanted to point out two thought-provoking posts that came across the transom about grading. The always-wonderful MS Teacher found a great video clip of a Dr. Reeves telling us why we should just stop giving zeroes.
Over at the lovely What's It Like On the Inside, we have a good rundown on ways to Advance the Gradebook. Use Exel and other options to graphically represent your student data and student achievement can apparently rise 26%.
see also: Just Give Them the Answers