The Consultant Learning approach uses a significantly different grading paradigm than the traditional high school or college course. Traditional courses operate on a system in which all students are required to do the same quantity of work and the quality of the work performed is judged and graded. Accepting low quality work and simply lowering a student’s grade for poor quality is the predominant assessment paradigm used in schools.

In the Consultant Learning approach, the required quality of the work the student must perform is held constant at a very high level – "professionalism" (also defined as work that would earn an A in a traditionally graded course). Low quality work must be redone and resubmitted until it meets the professionalism standard. Since the quality of all work accepted for credit (payment) is excellent quality (A work), the student's grade is based on the quantity of professional quality work that the student performs during the semester -- a small quantity of excellent quality work earns a "C" -- a moderate amount earns a "B" -- and a large amount earns an "A".

Requiring excellent quality has a huge impact on students. Many students go through school never having produced any work that is better than mediocre quality. The school system teaches them that "C" or mediocre work is all that is necessary to succeed -- to graduate.

Consultant Learning teaches them that whatever they do must be excellent quality, even if they do a small quantity of it. It is better to produce a small quantity of excellent work than lots of mediocre quality work. In the work force, "good enough" is only good enough to get fired!

Consultant Learning helps students learn to demand more of themselves, to reach for better than they thought they could do, and in so doing, teaches them that they can do better then they ever dreamed.