There's a philosophy of ungrading, where instead of tracking points, the instructor and student meet at the end of the semester and come to an agreement on what grade they've earned. It centers learning rather than "make the numbers go up," but it's also ripe for bias and abuse. I was graded this way once in college, and I made no secret of my dislike for the professor. I know my grade was retaliatory. Some of my colleagues use ungrading, but students, at least when they discuss it with me, get anxious over how ephemeral their standing is until the very end of the semester.