grading homework elementary

A Simple Guide to Grading Elementary Students

Tips for Recording and Reporting Student Progress

• Classroom Organization
• Reading Strategies
• Becoming A Teacher
• Assessments & Tests
• Secondary Education
• Special Education
• Homeschooling

Make Good Use of Assessment

Grade to help your students, not hurt them, use rubrics, codes for marking grades k-2, codes for marking grades 3-5, communicate with families.

• M.S., Education, Buffalo State College
• B.S., Education, Buffalo State College

Grading elementary students is no simple task. Teachers must be objective, fair, and consistent but the volume of grading to be done and lack of time to do it can make this process excruciating. Many teachers also find grading exhausting because they don't have a dependable grading system.

This guide will tell you everything you need to know about strategic and productive grading to give you one less thing to worry about.

Before you can implement grading strategies, you first have to make sure that your assessments are effective . The purpose of assessment is to inform future teaching and accommodate student needs but too often, teachers check for correctness, give a grade, and move on to the next concept. This leaves behind anyone still struggling and doesn't give students any information about what to keep practicing.

Assessment results are only helpful when you use them to determine what a student knows or doesn't know (not just whether they are right or wrong), find where discrepancies lie between your instruction and student comprehension, and decide how to get everyone on the same page.

Teach smarter by designing meaningful forms of assessment that allow students to demonstrate exactly what they know at the conclusion of a lesson. These must be closely aligned to a lesson and its standards (assessing skills that haven't been explicitly taught is not equitable teaching) and able to be completed by all of your learners . After a lesson concludes and independent work is finished, use the following criteria for grading, neatly document your findings, and articulate student progress to families.

Grading is complicated and full of grey areas. Ultimately, there is no right or wrong way to grade your students as long as you hold them all to the same standards and use grades for good (not evil).

While grades do not define your students or their abilities, they do have a direct impact on their lives. They can discourage them and lead to unwanted competitiveness in the classroom. Some teachers even use grades to shame or guilt their students into trying harder but this only results in low motivation and poor self-esteem.

Use these tips for conscientious grading to prevent your students from feeling like their self-worth is tied to their scores and make the most of the process.

• Recognize student achievement and progress always.
• Differentiate between incomplete and incorrect work.
• Provide students with opportunities for revision.
• Make students aware of what you will be looking for when grading before they start an assignment.
• Give students meaningful and actionable feedback on their work.

What Not to Do

• Use scores as the only form of feedback to students.
• Display or announce grades for the whole class.
• Make a student feel as if you are disappointed in them when they perform poorly.
• Reduce marks based on tardiness or attendance.
• Grade every single assignment students complete.

Rubrics are an efficient and reliable way for teachers to check in with student progress based on pre-determined learning objectives. They can determine whether each student grasped the main takeaways of a lesson and to what extent. Rubrics remove some subjectivity from grading by setting clear guidelines for what constitutes success.

Keep these best teaching practices for rubrics in mind the next time you go to score student work.

• Create a rubric prior to giving students an assignment so that they know exactly what is expected of them.
• Go over rubrics with your students to clear up any confusion ahead of time.
• Keep rubrics as specific as possible but do not make them too long.
• Provide feedback on student scores by referring to individual portions of the rubric.

The two common ways that student work is graded in kindergarten through second-grade are letters or numbers. They both assess a student's progress toward particular learning goals. Whichever system you or your school district prefers, be sure to use grades to show how students are advancing and not only for final products. Marking period report cards should not be the only time that students and families see grades.

Letter Grades

Number Grades

As you can see, the only difference between the two methods is that letter grades offer one more measure of success than number grades. Use your best judgment to choose which system will most benefit your class and stick with it.

Student work for grades three through five is assessed using more sophisticated scoring charts. These almost always involve a system of letter and number combinations. The following two charts are examples of this with one representing a more precise score gradient than the other. Either chart is sufficient.

Simple Scoring Chart

Advanced Scoring Chart

A critical contributing factor to student success is family communication . Keep families informed about their child's progress as it is happening so that they can help their child achieve learning targets. Use parent-teacher conferences and progress reports as opportunities to directly touch base and supplement these by sending home graded work often.

• “Grading Student Work.”   Office of Graduate Studies | Teaching at UNL , University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
• O'Connor, Ken.  How to Grade for Learning: Linking Grades to Standards . Fourth ed., Corwin, 2017.
• Create Rubrics for Student Assessment - Step by Step
• How to Create a Rubric in 6 Steps
• Rubrics - Quick Guide for all Content Areas
• What Is a Rubric?
• Grading for Proficiency in the World of 4.0 GPAs
• How to Calculate a Percentage and Letter Grade
• Fantasy Christmas Shopping Lesson Plan
• Scoring Rubric for Students
• 5 Free Assessment Apps for Teachers
• How to Make a Rubric for Differentiation
• Rubric Template Samples for Teachers
• Lesson Plan Step #8 - Assessment and Follow-Up
• Holistic Grading (Composition)
• How Scaffolding Instruction Can Improve Comprehension
• Classroom Assessment Best Practices and Applications

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Maneuvering the Middle

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Grading Math Homework Made Easy

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Grading math homework doesn’t have to be a hassle!  It is hard to believe when you have a 150+ students, but I am sharing an organization system that will make grading math homework much more efficient.  This is a follow up to my Minimalist Approach to Homework post. The title was inspired by the Marie Kondo book, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up .  Though I utilized the homework agenda for many years prior to the book, it fits right in to the idea of only keeping things that bring you joy.

One thing is for sure, papers do not bring a teacher joy.

For further reading, check out these posts about homework:

• The Homework Agenda Part 2 (Grading Math Homework)
• Should Teachers Assign Math Homework?

I am also aware that homework brings on another conversation:

• what to do if it is not complete AKA missing assignments

Any teacher will tell you that a missing assignment is a giant pain.  No one enjoys seeing the blank space in the grade book, especially a middle school teacher with 125+ students. (Side note, my first year I had 157.  Pretty much insane.)

Grading Homework, Yes or No?

Goodness, this is a decision you have to make for you and the best interest of your students. In my experience, I would say I graded 85% of assignments for some type of accuracy.  I am not a fan of completion grades.  The purpose of homework is to practice, but we don’t want to practice incorrectly.   Completion grades didn’t work for me, because I didn’t want students to produce low quality work.  

Students had a “tutorial” class period (much like homeroom) in which they were allowed 20 minutes a day to work on assignments.  I always encouraged students to work on math or come to my room for homework help.  Yes, this often led to 40+ students in my room.  But, that means 40 students were doing math practice.  I love that.

I also believe that many students worked on it during that time because they knew it was for a grade.  This helps to build intrinsic motivation.  

Grading math homework:  USING THE HOMEWORK AGENDA

During the warm up, I circulated and checked for homework completion. Students would receive a stamp or my initials on their Homework Agenda. Essentially, the Homework Agenda (freebie offered later in this post) is a one-pager that kept students homework organized. As a class, we quickly graded the homework assignment. Then, I briefly would answer or discuss a difficult question or two.  To avoid cheating, any student who did not have their homework that day were required to clear their desk while we graded.

I would then present a grading scale.  This is where I might make math teachers crazy, but I would be generous.  Eight questions, ten points each.  Missing two problems would result in an 80.   I tried to make it advantageous to those who showed work and attempted, yet not just a “gimme” grade. 

Students would record their grade on their Homework Agenda. They would repeat this for every homework assignment that week. A completed Homework Agenda would have 4 assignments’ names, with 4 teacher completion signatures, and 4 grades for each day of the week that I assigned homework.

Later in the class or the following day as I circulated, I was able to see on the front of the Homework Agenda how students were doing and discuss personally with them whether or not they needed to see me in tutorials.   I was able to give specific praise to students who were giving 110% effort or making improvements. 

This is why I love the Homework Agenda.

“There is no possible way, I could collect the assignments individually and return them in a timely fashion. I tried that my first year and there was no hope. Since using it, I am quickly able to provide individual and specific feedback in a timely manner. It opens up conversations and helps be to encourage and be a champion for my students. ”

On Friday, I would collect the Homework Agenda.  If during the week you were absent, had an incomplete assignment, or didn’t complete one, Friday was D day.  It was going in the grade book on Friday.

Here is my weekly process:

• Collect homework agendas
• Have frank conversation with students who did not have it
• Record grades on paper (mostly to make putting it in the computer faster because they were ordered)
• Record grades in computer
• Send the same email to parents of students that did not turn in the agenda – write one email, then BCC names.
• List names of missing assignments on post-it note next to desk (official, I know)
• Pull students from tutorial time (homeroom) who owed me the homework
• Follow up with any students who were absent Friday and still needed to turn in their homework to me

What About the Missi ng Assignments?

Yes, there will be missing assignments.  Yes, students will come to Thursday and have lost their precious agenda.  However, it won’t happen often to the same kiddo.  My least organized student, who carried everything in their pocket, could fold that agenda up and hang onto it for a week.  It was too valuable.  Too many grades, too many assignments to redo.

We all know that it is much more work when students don’t complete their assignments.  It would be a dream world if everyone turned in their work everyday.  Unfortunately, we all live in reality.

We can vent our frustrations over students not doing work, which is legitimate.  We can also work towards solutions. 

The reality is that not every student has a support system at home.  I would love for us to be that voice of inspiration and encouragement.   Sometimes that voice sounds like tough love and a hounding for assignments and just being consistent that you value their education and you are not willing to let them give up on it.

They will appreciate it one day and you will be happy you did the extra work.

Want to try the Homework Agenda?  Download the template here, just type and go!

This post is part 2 in a two part series.  To read part 1, click here.

Digital Math Activities

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Reader Interactions

42 comments.

February 29, 2016 at 2:39 pm

How do you prevent kids from cheating and writing a better grade than deserved? And you said 8 questions 10 points each, so do you then give them 20 points for attempting for making it an even 100?

March 1, 2016 at 2:46 am

Hi Lisa, thanks for the question. You make a great point about students wanting to write a better grade than they earned. The first few weeks, I really talk about what it means to be honest and check over their shoulders. As I walk around to check I will make sure everyone is marking their assignment correctly. I even will flip through what has been turned in on Fridays and double check or “spot” check. After several years of doing this, I can only count a handful of times when I had to deal with a situation. You would be surprised! Yes, I tried to make everything easy to grade as well as giving points for effort, especially if the assignment was difficult. Hope that helps!

May 20, 2016 at 10:03 pm

So do you have students turn in all the papers on friday as well or just the agenda? How do you spot check if you only collect the agenda?

May 20, 2016 at 10:38 pm

Hi Heather! Yes, I have students turn in their work with the agenda. If it was a handout/worksheet I provided, I just set the copier to staple it to the back. If it was something out of a text book, they would staple it to the agenda. Hope that helps!

June 4, 2016 at 9:42 pm

The ‘initials’ box on the homework agenda is for you to sign when checking who has it done? Or is the person correcting the paper initializing it?

Do you take off points for students not having an assignment done by the time Friday rolls around? Also, what does the small 1’s and 2’s in the corner of your gradebook mean?

June 5, 2016 at 6:56 am

Hi Alysia! I use the initials box to sign or stamp that it was complete before we graded it. I think you could have the student grading do that, but then you wouldn’t have a good grasp on how kids were doing throughout the week. I really liked going around at the beginning of class and touching base with students/seeing who needed extra help. Yes, I took off points for turing it in late. We had a standard policy on our campus that I followed. Also, by not having initials, it was by default late because it didn’t get checked when I came around. This section of my gradebook was during review for state testing, so the 1’s and 2’s were a little incentive I was running in my classroom. Review can be so boring and tedious, so I tried to spice it up with a sticker/point system for effort and making improvement. Hope this helps!

August 15, 2016 at 6:27 pm

I’m a bit confused how you assigned a grade to the homework assignment. First, you mentioned each problem was assigned 10 points. How did you determine how many points students would receive for each problem? If I read your blog correctly it sounds like you had the students score the assignment, how did you instruct them to score each problem? With 10 points for each problem it seems like there is a potential to have a wide range of scores for each problem based on who is grading it. Also, did the grader score it or did the student give their own work a grade? Sorry for all the questions…thank you!

August 16, 2016 at 6:43 am

Hi Tanya! In my example, there were eight problems but I only counted each as being worth ten points. That would be twenty points left over for trying/showing work/etc. As for marking it, each problem incorrect would be ten points off. Hope that helps. You could have either the student self grade or do a trade and grade method, whichever you felt more comfortable with.

November 28, 2016 at 1:28 am

Can you explain your grading system in the photo on this page where it reads, “Grading without the stacks of paper”? What do the small 1, 2 and 3’s mean? I assume your method on this posting is to avoid the complicated grading, but you’ve got me curious now about what method you were using in your photo. Thanks for clarifying this for me.

January 2, 2017 at 9:48 pm

The small numbers in the corner were used for an incentive. This photo is from a state assessment prep and I used various points for incentives to keep working!

December 26, 2016 at 7:31 pm

I like the idea of trade and grade. Right not I just check hw for completion and they get 5 points for doing the assignment. I treat this like extra credit for them. Most of them will at least attempt the problems and show their work. We also talk about just writing random numbers and how that will get no points.

December 26, 2016 at 7:34 pm

Ugh! The name is Celeste

March 11, 2017 at 7:25 pm

We aren’t allowed to do trade and grade due to privacy issues and legal issues. Otherwise, I do like this idea.

April 1, 2017 at 2:33 pm

I have heard that from other teachers. You could have them check their own, too.

May 30, 2017 at 3:19 pm

Do you allow them to redo and make corrections to their work for credit back? Or does the grade stand no matter what? This is why I go back and forth between correctness and completion. While they need to practice correctly, I don’t like being punitive for getting the answers wrong when they are learning the material for the first time. I want them to practice, and practice correctly. But I also want them to be motivated to persevere and relearn until they master the material.

June 4, 2017 at 6:10 am

Yes, it depended on the school policy but I would typically drop the lowest homework grade at the end of the grading period. If a student is willing to come in and work on their assignment (redo, a new one, etc), then I was always thrilled and would replace the grade! We want kids to learn from their mistakes. 🙂

June 4, 2017 at 1:48 pm

Regarding grading homework, my students have three homework assignments each week, with between 8 and 13 practice problems per assignment. I go through each problem and award 0-3 points per problem. 0 points if they did nothing. And then 1 point for attempting the problem, 1 point for showing necessary/appropriate work, and 1 point for a correct answer. This way, even if students get the problem wrong, they can still get 2 out of 3 points. If a student got each problem wrong, but were clearly trying, I would give them an overall grade of 70%.

June 20, 2017 at 8:13 pm

Great ideas! Love that!

August 31, 2019 at 8:27 am

Are you grading that, or the students?!?!

March 15, 2024 at 10:44 am

It depends! Usually I had my students grade!

June 15, 2017 at 4:54 pm

Do you staple the agenda to a homework packet to hand out on Monday?

June 20, 2017 at 8:07 pm

Yes! Well actually, I would copy it all together or if it was out of a text book, they would staple their work.

June 19, 2017 at 12:16 am

Our district insists that we MUST allow students an opportunity to complete assignments, and we have to accept them late. They do not specify how late though. I was bogged down with tons of late work this last year, and hated it. Can you please share with me your secret of how you handle late work, how late can it be, how much credit does it receive, and how do you grade it? That would help me tremendously. Thank You!

June 20, 2017 at 8:00 pm

We always had school policies for the amount of credit a student could earn, so I would follow that for credit. As far as actually collecting and grading, I did the following: 1. If it was late, I didn’t sign their assignment sheet. Instead I wrote late. 2. They had until Friday, when I collected the assignment sheet and homework to complete it. 3. On Friday, I would collect everything complete or not, and put grades in the grade book. Then, I would send an email to parents letting them know. Usually, kids would then be motivated to come to tutoring to complete any missing grades. I tried to not take any papers other than the Assignment Sheet and its corresponding work.

August 11, 2019 at 2:47 pm

If the students came in the next week and finished the missing assignment, would you give them full points or would they still lose some points for turning the assignment in late?

March 15, 2024 at 10:47 am

Hi, Jackie! I would go with your school’s grading policy.

August 12, 2018 at 1:55 pm

I really hate taking late work but when im forced to I tell my students that the highest grade they could receive is 5 points lower than the lowest grade fromthe student that turned it in on time.

July 17, 2017 at 3:30 pm

What percentage of their overall grade is homework? We are only allowed to give 10% which is why I only grade for completion and showing work. Maybe I’m not understanding correctly, but you have 80 points per assignment roughly?

August 11, 2017 at 5:26 am

Yes, I really tried to be generous and would give points for showing work/effort, to make the grading scale easy. Thanks!

July 30, 2017 at 9:07 pm

Love all the ideas. One question though – do you have any problems with kids not having their homework done, but making note of the correct answers while the class is grading and then just copying those answers later?

August 11, 2017 at 5:18 am

I would suggest to monitor and ask them to have a cleaned off desk if they did not have their assignment. Thanks!

August 22, 2017 at 11:37 am

What does your class look like on Fridays? If you only assign homework M-Th, when do your students get practice on the material that you teach on Friday?

September 2, 2017 at 9:01 pm

Hi Briana! I didn’t assign homework on Fridays, and really tried to plan for a cooperative learning activity if possible. This way we could practice what we did all week.

August 5, 2019 at 9:21 am

I love the idea of the homework agenda. I tried passing out papers and filing them but it was to time consuming. If students are allowed to take the packet back and forth every day what keeps them from sharing their answers to other students from another class period throughout the day? I love that you can put notes/reminders at the bottom of the agenda page.

June 11, 2018 at 11:07 am

Hello! Do you have a editable copy if your homework agenda anywhere? It seems like an interesting concept. I would love to see the overall layout.

March 15, 2024 at 10:13 am

Yes! You can get it here: https://www.maneuveringthemiddle.com/math-homework/

June 13, 2018 at 7:39 pm

What are your procedures for the agenda for those students who were absent the day you graded?

Hi, Brittany! What a great question. I would just collect any absent students’ packets when they return and grade them on my own.

December 2, 2018 at 11:21 am

I often give homework on Quizizz or EdPuzzle which scores for me. The kids who cannot do the assignment at home due to computer or internet issues can do it in tutoring. (I offer before school, after school, and lunch opportunities for tutoring.)

December 9, 2018 at 9:16 pm

How do you set up your homework agenda? In the date box do you put the due date? Or the date they receive the assignment? Do you have an example homework agenda?

December 22, 2018 at 11:34 am

Hi Alyssa! Yes, check out this blog post for more ideas and a sample: https://www.maneuveringthemiddle.com/math-homework/

August 20, 2019 at 11:41 pm

How and when in this process do you grade the homework for accuracy? At your quick glance at the start of class? On Friday after you collect the agenda and associated work? What mechanism do you use to provide constructive, timely feedback to the students?

IM 6–12 Math: Grading and Homework Policies and Practices

By Jennifer Willson,  Director, 6–12 Professional Learning Design

In my role at IM, working with teachers and administrators, I am asked to help with the challenges of implementing an IM curriculum. One of the most common challenges is: how can we best align these materials to our homework and grading practices? This question is a bit different from “How should we assess student learning?” or “How should we use assessment to inform instruction?” 

When we created the curriculum, we chose not to prescribe homework assignments or decide which student work should count as a graded event. This was deliberate—homework policies and grading practices are highly variable, localized, and values-driven shared understandings that evolve over time. For example, the curriculum needed to work for schools where nightly, graded assignments are expected; schools where no work done outside of class is graded; and schools who take a feedback-only approach for any formative work.

IM 6–8 Math was released in 2017, and IM Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2 in 2019. In that time, I’ve been able to observe some patterns in the ways schools and teachers align the materials to their local practices. So, while we’re still not going to tell you what to do, we’re now in a position to describe some trends and common ways in which schools and districts make use of the materials to meet their local constraints. Over the past four years, I have heard ideas from teachers, administrators, and IM certified facilitators. In December, I invited our IM community to respond to a survey to share grading and homework policies and practices. In this post I am sharing a compilation of results from the 31 teachers who responded to the survey, as well as ideas from conversations with teachers and IMCFs. We hope that you find some ideas here to inform and inspire your classroom.

How do teachers collect student responses?

Most teachers who responded to the survey collect student work for assessments in a digital platform such as LearnZillion, McGraw-Hill, ASSISTments, Edulastic, Desmos, etc. Others have students upload their work (photo, PDF, etc.) to a learning management system such as Canvas or Google classroom. Even fewer ask students to respond digitally to questions in their learning management system.

How do teachers tend to score each type of assessment, and how is feedback given?

The table shows a summary of how teachers who responded to the survey most often provide feedback for the types of assessments included in the curriculum.

How are practice problems used?

Every lesson in the curriculum (with a very small number of exceptions) includes a short set of cumulative practice problems. Each set could be used as an assignment done in class after the lesson or worked on outside of class, but teachers make use of these items in a variety of ways to meet their students’ learning needs.

While some teachers use the practice problems that are attached to each lesson as homework, others do not assign work outside of class. Here are some other purposes for which teachers use the practice problems:

• extra practice
• student reflection
• as examples to discuss in class or use for a mini-lesson
• as a warm-up question to begin class
• as group work during class

How do teachers structure time and communication to “go over” practice problems?

It’s common practice to assemble practice problems into assignments that are worked on outside of class meeting time. Figuring out what works best for students to get feedback on practice problems while continuing to move students forward in their learning and work through the next lesson can be challenging. 

Here are some ways teachers describe how they approach this need:

• We don’t have time to go over homework every day, but I do build in one class period per section to pause and look at some common errors in cool-downs and invite students to do some revisions where necessary, then I also invite students to look at select practice problems. I collect some practice problems along with cool-downs and use that data to inform what, if anything, I address with the whole class or with a small group.
• Students vote for one practice problem that they thought was challenging, and we spend less than five minutes to get them started. We don’t necessarily work through the whole problem.
• I post solutions to practice problems, sometimes with a video of my solution strategy, so that students can check their work.
• I assign practice problems, post answers, invite students to ask questions (they email me or let me know during the warm-up), and then give section quizzes that are closely aligned to the practice problems, which is teaching my students that asking questions is important.
• I invite students to vote on the most challenging problem and then rather than go over the practice problem I weave it into the current day’s lesson so that students recognize “that’s just like that practice problem!” What I find important is moving students to take responsibility to evaluate their own understanding of the practice problems and not depend on me (the teacher) or someone else to check them. Because my district requires evidence of a quiz and grade each week and I preferred to use my cool-downs formatively, I placed the four most highly requested class practice problems from the previous week on the quiz which I substituted for that day’s cool-down. That saved me quiz design time, there were no surprises for the students, and after about four weeks of consistency with this norm, the students quickly learned that they should not pass up their opportunity to study for the quiz by not only completing the 4–5 practice problems nightly during the week, but again, by reflecting on their own depth of understanding and being ready to give me focused feedback about their greatest struggle on a daily basis.
• I see the practice problems as an opportunity to allow students to go at different paces. It’s more work, but I include extension problems and answers to each practice problem with different strategies and misconceptions underneath. When students are in-person for class, they work independently or in pairs moving to the printed answer keys posted around the room for each problem. They initial under different prompts on the answer key (tried more than one strategy, used a DNL, used a table, made a mistake, used accurate units, used a strategy that’s not on here…) It gives the students and I more feedback when I collect the responses later and allows me to be more present with smaller groups while students take responsibility for checking their work. It also gets students up and moving around the room and normalizes multiple approaches as well as making mistakes as part of the problem solving process.

Quizzes—How often, and how are they made?

Most of the teachers give quizzes—a short graded assessment completed individually under more controlled conditions than other assignments. How often is as varied as the number of teachers who responded: one per unit, twice per unit, once a week, two times per week, 2–3 times per quarter.

If teachers don’t write quiz items themselves or with their team, the quiz items come from practice problems, activities, and adapted cool-downs.

When and how do students revise their work?

Policies for revising work are also as varied as the number of teachers who responded. 

Here are some examples:

• Students are given feedback as they complete activities and revise based on their feedback.
• Students revise cool-downs and practice problems.
• Students can revise end-of-unit assessments and cool-downs.
• Students can meet with me at any time to increase a score on previous work.
• Students revise cool-downs if incorrect, and they are encouraged to ask for help if they can’t figure out their own error.
• Students can revise graded assignments during office hours to ensure successful completion of learning goals.
• Students are given a chance to redo assignments after I work with them individually.
• Students can review and revise their Desmos activities until they are graded.
• We make our own retake versions of the assessments.
• Students can do error logs and retakes on summative assessments.
• We complete the student facing tasks together as a whole class on Zoom in ASSISTments. If a student needs to revise the answers they notify me during the session.

Other advice and words of wisdom

I also asked survey participants for any other strategies that both have and haven’t worked in their classrooms. Here are some responses.

What have you tried that has not worked?

• Going over practice problems with the whole class every day. The ones who need it most often don’t benefit from the whole-class instruction, and the ones who don’t need it distract those who do. 
• Grading work on the tasks within the lessons for accuracy
• Leaving assignments open for the length of the semester so that students can always see unfinished work
• Going through problems on the board with the whole class does not correct student errors
• Most students don’t check feedback comments unless you look at them together
• Grading images of student work on the classroom activity tasks uploaded by students in our learning management systems
• Providing individual feedback on google classroom assignments was time consuming and inefficient
• Allowing students to submit late and missing work with no penalty
• Trying to grade everything
• Below grade 9, homework really does not work.
• Going over every practice problem communicates that students do not really think about the practice problems on their own. 

What else have you tried that has worked well?

• My students do best when I consistently assign practice problems. I have tried giving them an assignment once a week but most students lose track. It is better to give 2–3 problems or reflective prompts after every class, which also helps me get ahead of misconceptions.
• I don’t grade homework since I am unsure who completes it with or for the students.
• A minimum score of 50% on assignments, which allows students the opportunity to recover, in terms of their grade in the class
• Time constraints imposed during remote learning impact the amount and type of homework I give as well as what I grade
• Give fewer problems than normal on second chance assignments
• I have used platforms such as Kahoot to engage students in IM material. I also build Google Forms to administer the Check Your Readiness pre-assessment and End-of-Unit assessments, but I may start using ASSISTments for this in the future.
• The value of homework in high school is okay, but personally I skip good for great.
• Students are able to go back and revise their independent practice work upon recognizing their mistakes and learning further about how to solve the problems.
• Sometimes I select only one or two slides to grade instead of the whole set when I use Desmos activities.
• Allow for flexibility in timing. Give students opportunities for revision.
• Frequent short assessments are better than longer tests, and they allow students to focus on specific skills and get feedback more frequently.
• Especially during the pandemic, many of my students are overwhelmed and underachieving. I am focusing on the core content.
• Homework assignments consist of completing Desmos activities students began in class. Additional slides contain IM practice problems.
• I am only grading the summative assessment for accuracy and all else for completion. I want the students to know that they have the room to learn, try new strategies and be wrong while working on formative assessments.

What grading and homework policies have worked for you and your students that aren’t listed? Share your ideas in the comments so that we can all learn from your experience.

What would you like to learn more about? Let us know in the comments, and it will help us design future efforts like this one so that we can all learn more in a future blog post.

We are grateful to the teachers and facilitators who took the time to share their learning with us.

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Center for Teaching

Grading student work.

Print Version

What Purposes Do Grades Serve?

Developing grading criteria, making grading more efficient, providing meaningful feedback to students.

• Maintaining Grading Consistency in Multi-Sectioned Courses

Minimizing Student Complaints about Grading

Barbara Walvoord and Virginia Anderson identify the multiple roles that grades serve:

• as an  evaluation of student work;
• as a  means of communicating to students, parents, graduate schools, professional schools, and future employers about a student’s  performance in college and potential for further success;
• as a  source of motivation to students for continued learning and improvement;
• as a  means of organizing a lesson, a unit, or a semester in that grades mark transitions in a course and bring closure to it.

Additionally, grading provides students with feedback on their own learning , clarifying for them what they understand, what they don’t understand, and where they can improve. Grading also provides feedback to instructors on their students’ learning , information that can inform future teaching decisions.

Why is grading often a challenge? Because grades are used as evaluations of student work, it’s important that grades accurately reflect the quality of student work and that student work is graded fairly. Grading with accuracy and fairness can take a lot of time, which is often in short supply for college instructors. Students who aren’t satisfied with their grades can sometimes protest their grades in ways that cause headaches for instructors. Also, some instructors find that their students’ focus or even their own focus on assigning numbers to student work gets in the way of promoting actual learning.

Given all that grades do and represent, it’s no surprise that they are a source of anxiety for students and that grading is often a stressful process for instructors.

Incorporating the strategies below will not eliminate the stress of grading for instructors, but it will decrease that stress and make the process of grading seem less arbitrary — to instructors and students alike.

Source: Walvoord, B. & V. Anderson (1998).  Effective Grading: A Tool for Learning and Assessment . San Francisco : Jossey-Bass.

• Consider the different kinds of work you’ll ask students to do for your course.  This work might include: quizzes, examinations, lab reports, essays, class participation, and oral presentations.
• For the work that’s most significant to you and/or will carry the most weight, identify what’s most important to you.  Is it clarity? Creativity? Rigor? Thoroughness? Precision? Demonstration of knowledge? Critical inquiry?
• Transform the characteristics you’ve identified into grading criteria for the work most significant to you, distinguishing excellent work (A-level) from very good (B-level), fair to good (C-level), poor (D-level), and unacceptable work.

Developing criteria may seem like a lot of work, but having clear criteria can

• save time in the grading process
• make that process more consistent and fair
• communicate your expectations to students
• help you to decide what and how to teach
• help students understand how their work is graded

Sample criteria are available via the following link.

• Analytic Rubrics from the CFT’s September 2010 Virtual Brownbag
• Create assignments that have clear goals and criteria for assessment.  The better students understand what you’re asking them to do the more likely they’ll do it!
• letter grades with pluses and minuses (for papers, essays, essay exams, etc.)
• 100-point numerical scale (for exams, certain types of projects, etc.)
• check +, check, check- (for quizzes, homework, response papers, quick reports or presentations, etc.)
• pass-fail or credit-no-credit (for preparatory work)
• Limit your comments or notations to those your students can use for further learning or improvement.
• Spend more time on guiding students in the process of doing work than on grading it.
• For each significant assignment, establish a grading schedule and stick to it.

Light Grading – Bear in mind that not every piece of student work may need your full attention. Sometimes it’s sufficient to grade student work on a simplified scale (minus / check / check-plus or even zero points / one point) to motivate them to engage in the work you want them to do. In particular, if you have students do some small assignment before class, you might not need to give them much feedback on that assignment if you’re going to discuss it in class.

Multiple-Choice Questions – These are easy to grade but can be challenging to write. Look for common student misconceptions and misunderstandings you can use to construct answer choices for your multiple-choice questions, perhaps by looking for patterns in student responses to past open-ended questions. And while multiple-choice questions are great for assessing recall of factual information, they can also work well to assess conceptual understanding and applications.

Test Corrections – Giving students points back for test corrections motivates them to learn from their mistakes, which can be critical in a course in which the material on one test is important for understanding material later in the term. Moreover, test corrections can actually save time grading, since grading the test the first time requires less feedback to students and grading the corrections often goes quickly because the student responses are mostly correct.

Spreadsheets – Many instructors use spreadsheets (e.g. Excel) to keep track of student grades. A spreadsheet program can automate most or all of the calculations you might need to perform to compute student grades. A grading spreadsheet can also reveal informative patterns in student grades. To learn a few tips and tricks for using Excel as a gradebook take a look at this sample Excel gradebook .

• Use your comments to teach rather than to justify your grade, focusing on what you’d most like students to address in future work.
• Link your comments and feedback to the goals for an assignment.
• Comment primarily on patterns — representative strengths and weaknesses.
• Avoid over-commenting or “picking apart” students’ work.
• In your final comments, ask questions that will guide further inquiry by students rather than provide answers for them.

Maintaining Grading Consistency in Multi-sectioned Courses (for course heads)

• Communicate your grading policies, standards, and criteria to teaching assistants, graders, and students in your course.
• Discuss your expectations about all facets of grading (criteria, timeliness, consistency, grade disputes, etc) with your teaching assistants and graders.
• Encourage teaching assistants and graders to share grading concerns and questions with you.
• have teaching assistants grade assignments for students not in their section or lab to curb favoritism (N.B. this strategy puts the emphasis on the evaluative, rather than the teaching, function of grading);
• have each section of an exam graded by only one teaching assistant or grader to ensure consistency across the board;
• have teaching assistants and graders grade student work at the same time in the same place so they can compare their grades on certain sections and arrive at consensus.
• Include your grading policies, procedures, and standards in your syllabus.
• Avoid modifying your policies, including those on late work, once you’ve communicated them to students.
• Distribute your grading criteria to students at the beginning of the term and remind them of the relevant criteria when assigning and returning work.
• Keep in-class discussion of grades to a minimum, focusing rather on course learning goals.

For a comprehensive look at grading, see the chapter “Grading Practices” from Barbara Gross Davis’s  Tools for Teaching.

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10 Of The Best Grading Apps For Teachers

With the right application–and expectations–grading and grade book apps can be a useful tool for busy teachers.

What Are The Best Grading Apps For Teachers?

by TeachThought Staff

Using a gradebook app to grade, report scores, document progress, or other functions may help free up time in your classroom–provided it actually solves a problem: saves time, automates reporting, communicates results to stakeholders, calculates scores instantly, etc.

If not, using a grading app may not be a great fit. But with the right expectations–and application–a grading app might just save you a few precious minutes a day.

See also 20 Grading Apps For The Mobile Teacher

The Benefits Of Using A Grading App

Whether or not a grading app is actually useful to you depends on what you teach, the form and function of your lessons, and even your chosen platform (iOS vs Windows vs Chromebook, etc.) That said, generally speaking, you can:

1. Grade faster with an app

2. Easily calculate percentages

3. Scan test responses or other student work into digital portfolios, Google Classroom, and more

4. In some cases, benefit from the ability to automate some aspects of grading and communication of results

5. Improve your grading scope and accuracy

6. Reduce grading time

Mobile grading apps are a useful tool for teachers who want to spend less time grading and more time interacting with their students. We know change can be daunting, but we promise that within this list of apps teachers love, you’ll find something you love, too.

These may not  eliminate all of your grading problems  but hopefully, they help.

1. Google Classroom

Not a pure ‘grading app,’ Google Classroom automates multiple choice item grading and reporting to students. How To Grade In Google Classroom

2.  Alma Gradebook

Platform: Computer, iOS (11 or later), and Android.

Price: All of Alma’s core services are available free. The company also offers packages that include training and support at differing levels of involvement, ranging from a starter package for $500/year to a platinum package at $30,000/year.

Summary: This app is a great way to keep track of your students’ grades, schedules, assignments, etc., here are a few of their features: Standards-Based Gradebook, Standards Tracking, Supports Any Standards (including Custom), Supports Any Rubric (including Custom), Blended Learning, Differentiated Assignments, Personalized Learning Schedules, and Google Classroom Integration.

3.  Think Wave Gradebook

Platform: Android and Computer

Price: Premium: $49.95/year, Solo Gradebook: Free.

Summary: Think Wave is a very good option for online school, distant learning, grading, and more. This app comes with free limited features, such as: automatic mass email to students and parents, distribute & collect assignments online, advanced messaging system, quick and easy access to all needed data, powerful custom reports.

With Think Wave Premium you unlock many more features, such as: custom report cards and transcripts can be printed or delivered electronically, new messaging and emailing systems provides easy communication between teachers, parents and students, teacher gradebooks distribute and collect assignments online, integrated management software for COVID-19 distance learning, the cloud-based solution provides security and reliability, and finally, all-inclusive license includes support and upgrades.

4. GradeCam Go

Platform: Mobile and Computer

Price: ranges, Free-$150/year, also has option school/district, $3.00/student

Summary: GradeCam Go is a quality online and hybrid grading/online teaching app. The free option doesn’t come with a whole lot, but it’s still not bad, at all–here are some of the features, essential Reports (Item Analysis, Assignment, and Class Overview), sync Rosters from Google Classroom or Canvas, scan forms on any mobile device, 10 questions per assignment, mobile-only access, and more. The other plans unlock a plethora of new features such as unlimited questions per assignment, mobile and computer access, advanced question types, instant grade transfer, and more.

5. GradeBook Pro

Platform: Any

Price: $19.99

Summary: GradeBook Pro is a great way to access your students’ grades, schedules, assignments, etc. They have a plethora of ways to track your students’ progress, such as past grades, reports, assignments, grids that have tracked all of the students’ past grades, and more.

6.  ZipGrade

Price: Free-$6.99

Summary: Zipgrade is a hybrid learning app that helps track students’ grades, assignments, reports, etc. You can scan in-person assignments and transfer them onto the app or you can assign a quiz or assignment online.

7. iDoceo

Price: $11.99

Summary: iDoceo allows you to quickly grade your students, schedule assignments, reports, etc. You can also keep track of upcoming events or deadlines. iDoceo also keeps a number of statistics that can help you grasp your students’ progress.

8. Socrative Teacher

Platform: Computer and Tablets

Price: Free-$99.99

Summary: Socrative Teacher is an app that instantly grades quizzes, assignments, etc. It takes a lot of time off of your hands and makes teaching faster and simpler.

9. Teacher Gradebook

Price: Free-$19.99

Summary: Teacher gradebook is a way to easily keep track of grades, keep up with your schedule, view past attendance, or keep a class diary.

10. Teacher gradebook spreadsheet templates from Microsoft

Platform: Windows, iOS, Mac

Price: Free

Summary: This is a very simple and inexpensive way to help keep track of grades, schedules, behavior, etc. You can keep all kinds of grids and templates to track anything, you can also make PowerPoints if you wanted.

TeachThought is an organization dedicated to innovation in education through the growth of outstanding teachers.

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Best way to grade homework?

So I usually assign homework daily but my question is how do I efficiently grade homework?? Have them place their homework on their desk, in mailboxes, or folders? I find myself backtracking and all over the place because I have students that won’t turn in their homework till Friday (I accept late hw up until the end of the week) I teach elementary btw

Any teachers would like to share their hw grading policy/ routine?

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Breaking news, nyc jewish family pummeled at 5th-grade commencement by attendees shouting ‘free palestine,’ mom says.

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A Jewish mom and her husband were attacked and beaten at a Brooklyn elementary school graduation by an Arabic-speaking family — who taunted them with shouts of “Free Palestine!” “Gaza is Ours!” and “Death to Israel!” she told The Post.

The mayhem erupted at PS 682 in Gravesend just after the school’s fifth-grade graduation — which was themed, ironically, “All you need is love.”

Instead, the Jewish woman’s husband was thrown to the ground by members of the other family. One man put him in a chokehold, he said. Others grabbed his legs as they kicked and punched him. One woman repeatedly whacked him with the sharp heel of a black stiletto, the mom told police.

“They targeted my family because we are Jewish,” said the mother, whose 10-year-old twins witnessed the assaults.

“A graduation event that was supposed to be joyous and memorable turned into a violent and traumatizing one.”

It was one of the worst outbursts of antisemitism in NYC public schools since the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack in Israel and war in Gaza, because it escalated beyond words, said Tova Plaut, a city educator and advocate for Jewish peers.

“We consistently warned that tolerating overtly antisemitic views would create a toxic environment for Jewish students and families, inevitably leading to physical violence,” Plaut said. “This has now occurred.”

The Jewish mom, Lana, and her husband Johan, a Dominican who is Catholic, recounted their horrific experience to The Post in frustration because the NYPD did not classify the incident as a hate crime.

But after the couple urged the NYPD to reconsider, a spokesperson said Saturday, “The Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating the incident.”

The Post is withholding the couple’s last names to protect their children’s privacy and safety.

The graduation ceremony itself was uneventful, but Lana’s mother was upset when one student marched across the stage wearing his graduate cap marked  “Free Palestine” and waving a small Palestinian flag. The grandma walked out.

A school administrator told another parent that the city Department of Education’s legal staff had okayed the display as an expression of free speech.

After the event concluded, Lana and Johan started to take pictures with their two kids in front of a PS 682 banner and balloons when relatives of the boy with the flag tried to push them out of the way, she said.

“We told them there was space for both families,” Lana said. “An older man turned to us and said ‘Free Palestine!’ for no reason. My husband told him this was not the time or place for that but the man cursed at him in Arabic, and shouted, “Free Palestine, Gaza is Ours, Death to Israel.”

While Johan argued with the older man and told him to back off, another man “just came out of nowhere, punched me in the head and it was a scuffle,” he said. “From there, I don’t remember, because there was so much going on and so many people on top of me. Then I was put on a chokehold. Somebody was holding my leg. It was chaotic.”

Their 16-year- old son tried to help his dad, but he was punched in the face.

Lana walked toward her son and managed to record a glimpse of the scene with her cell phone — capturing a group holding her husband down, jostling and loud shrieks — before she, too, was assaulted. 

“A woman from the group came up from behind me, pulled me by the hair, and knocked me down on the ground, shouting, ‘I will kill you,’” she said.

Lana screamed, “Call the cops! Call the cops!”

No security was on site. Two male teachers rushed over to break up the attack. 

Johan was taken to Maimonides Medical Center with scrapes, bruises and swelling on his head, face and body, photos show. Lana suffered a gash on her leg. Their teen son had a bloody nose. 

Cops made one arrest:  Ez-Al Dean Bazar, 26, who punched and dragged Johan, according to a criminal complaint filed by the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office. The complaint makes no mention of his motive.

Bazar was released on his own recognizance. He and his lawyer did not return messages seeking comment.

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The NYPD did not call the assault a hate crime, telling Lana “nothing on my body says I am Jewish,” she said. 

But she and her kids are well-known in the school as Jewish. The twins proudly displayed their Jewish – and Dominican – roots on self-portraits displayed at a recent art show. Lana did not know the other family, but her son was in a class with their son last year.

DOE spokesman Nathaniel Styer refused to say how school officials classified the fracas.

“Graduations should be times of celebration and joy, and we strongly denounce anyone who acts in a violent or aggressive way during such events,” he said.

But he shifted blame to Lana and Johan as well: “Initial reports we have received from multiple witnesses indicate that both families engaged in aggressive behavior, but we are still investigating the matter and are simultaneously engaging with families as we work towards a resolution.”

Lana disputed the statement, insisting no one in her family provoked the attack, and that school staff told the arresting officer that members of the other family were the aggressors.

“My husband was trying to de-escalate the situation,” she said. “The DOE is trying to sweep it under the rug to avoid further scrutiny of this heinous antisemitic act.” 

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Second-grader heckled over Palestinian poem at cultural night, advocacy group says

by Sana Azem

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. (7News) — During a night meant to bring the cultures of the world together at a Montgomery County school, a second-grade student was performing a well-known Palestinian poem when a parent rose from the audience and began to shout derogatory comments, said the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in a press release.

A Palestinian-American parent and her son were representing the culture of Palestine during International School Night at Damascus Elementary School when a person in the audience began to "heckle the child," attempting to bring his recitation to an end, according to the press release.

READ| Protesters at White House demand cease-fire as Israel's war on Gaza enters eighth month

The school's principal allegedly did not intervene or address the incident, leaving the child's family feeling silenced.

"It was a poem, nothing else. This was unfair to my son," said the mother of the second-grade student in a statement to CAIR. "I wish more people would come and talk to us. And ask us questions. Break the stereotypes about us."

READ| Virginia doctor's glimpse into Gaza hospital tells the story of life amid Israeli strikes

Following the incident, CAIR said it called on Montgomery County Public Schools to take action to ensure that all students feel protected, including conducting a thorough investigation, issuing a public apology, and instating protective measures while being transparent.

"We are appalled by this reportedly obnoxious behavior by a grown adult towards a young child and the lack of action and support from the school administration," said CAIR Maryland Director Zainab Chaudry. "This incident underscores the urgent need for inclusivity and respect for all cultures and voices in our educational institutions. Schools should be safe spaces for students to express their heritage and share their stories without fear of harassment or intimidation."

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Oklahoma state superintendent orders schools to…

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Oklahoma state superintendent orders schools to teach the bible in grades 5 through 12.

FILE – Ryan Walters, Republican candidate for Oklahoma State Superintendent, speaks at a rally, Nov. 1, 2022, in Oklahoma City. Republican State Superintendent Walters ordered public schools Thursday, June 27, 2024, to incorporate the Bible into lessons for grades 5 through 12, the latest effort by conservatives to incorporate religion into classrooms. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)

FILE – Bibles are displayed in Miami. Religious publishers say President Trump’s most recently proposed tariffs on Chinese imports could result in a Bible shortage, July 5, 2019. Republican State Superintendent Ryan Walters ordered public schools Thursday, June 27, 2024, to incorporate the Bible into lessons for grades 5 through 12, the latest effort by conservatives to incorporate religion into classrooms. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier, File)

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma’s top education official ordered public schools Thursday to incorporate the Bible into lessons for grades 5 through 12, the latest effort by conservatives to incorporate religion into classrooms.

The directive drew immediate condemnation from civil rights groups and supporters of the separation of church and state, with some calling it an abuse of power and a violation of the U.S. Constitution.

The order sent to districts across the state by Republican State Superintendent Ryan Walters says adherence to the mandate is compulsory and “immediate and strict compliance is expected.”

“The Bible is an indispensable historical and cultural touchstone,” Walters said in a statement. “Without basic knowledge of it, Oklahoma students are unable to properly contextualize the foundation of our nation which is why Oklahoma educational standards provide for its instruction.”

Oklahoma law already explicitly allows Bibles in the classroom and lets teachers use them in instruction, said Phil Bacharach, a spokesman for state Attorney General Gentner Drummond.

But it’s not clear if Walters has the authority to mandate that schools teach it. State law says individual school districts have the exclusive authority to decide on instruction, curriculum, reading lists, instructional materials and textbooks.

The head of the Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations criticized the directive as a clear violation of the Constitution’s Establishment Clause, which prohibits the government from “establishing” a religion.

“We adamantly oppose any requirements that religion be forcefully taught or required as a part of lesson plans in public schools, in Oklahoma, or anywhere else in the country,” Adam Soltani said in a statement.

“Public schools are not Sunday schools,” said Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, in a statement. “This is textbook Christian Nationalism: Walters is abusing the power of his public office to impose his religious beliefs on everyone else’s children. Not on our watch.”

The directive is the latest salvo in an effort by conservative-led states to target public schools: Louisiana has required them to post the Ten Commandments in classrooms , while others are under pressure to teach the Bible and ban books and lessons about race, sexual orientation and gender identity. Earlier this week the Oklahoma Supreme Court blocked an attempt by the state to have the first publicly funded religious charter school in the country.

A former public school teacher who was elected to his post in 2022, Walters ran on a platform of fighting “woke ideology,” banning books from school libraries and getting rid of “radical leftists” who he claims are indoctrinating children in classrooms.

He has clashed with leaders in both parties for his focus on culture-war issues including transgender rights and banning books, and in January he faced criticism for appointing a right-wing social media influencer from New York to a state library committee.

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