I grade my students on a 1 (basic)-2 (progressing)-3 (mastery) scale and I love it. No more fiddling over whether a piece of writing is a B or a B+.
"Sally, you performed poorly on the last quiz so I'm afraid I'll have to give you a Deathstalker. But if you study hard for the next one I think you can bring your average up to a Hellraiser."