All work your students turn in lands in one grading queue: the To grade page. From there you grade work, set statuses, leave comments, and return work for revision. Students see their grades in the student portal, and parents see their student's overall class grade in the parent portal.
Note: Grading is included in every plan. See Plans & Pricing.
The grading queue
Click To grade in the sidebar. The badge on it, and the N to grade card on your Home page, count the work waiting for your grade.
The queue lists student work on the published, graded assignments in your classes. Three tabs keep you organized:
- To grade: turned in, but not graded yet. This is where you start. When it's empty, you're all caught up.
- Graded: work that has points and a status.
- All: every student's work on those assignments, including work that hasn't been turned in.
Each row shows the student, when they turned it in, the assignment and class, a Points box, the max points, and the grade (percent and letter). Search by student name, or use the filters: Student, or Term → Class → Assignment to narrow the list.
The Grading systems button at the top of the page opens your grading systems (see Grading Systems). How grading works is a short reminder of the rules below.
Note: You can also grade one assignment at a time from the class: open the assignment on the Classwork tab and click Student work. The same grading tools are there, including students who haven't turned anything in yet.
Grade an assignment
The fastest way is straight in the queue:
- Type the points earned into the Points box on the student's row. The percent and letter grade calculate automatically, and the work moves to Graded.
- To look at the work first, click the row (or open the row's actions menu and choose View student work).
Points can include decimals (for example 8.5). They can't be negative or more than the assignment's max points. If you type something that isn't allowed, you'll see an error and nothing is saved.
In the View student work window you can:
- Enter Points awarded. Grading work that has no status yet sets its Status to Completed for you.
- Change the Status (see below). Work that was turned in but not graded shows Waiting for your grade.
- Look at the student's uploads. The first file opens automatically; pick another under File, or use the download button. Files that can't be previewed (a ZIP, for example) can still be downloaded.
- Leave feedback under Comments (visible to student) (see below).
Changes save as you make them.
Points: zero vs. blank
- Typed points are a grade, including 0. As soon as you enter points, the work counts toward the student's class grade.
- Blank points means not graded yet. Blank work doesn't count toward the grade and never shows as 0%.
Use the Clear points bulk action to remove points from several students at once. Cleared points stop counting toward the class grade.
Assignment statuses
| Status | Meaning | Counts toward grade? |
|---|---|---|
| Completed | Turned in and graded. | Yes, once it has points |
| Late | Turned in after the deadline. | Yes, once it has points |
| Missing | Never turned in. | Only if you enter points. Enter 0 to count it against the grade |
| Excused | Excused from the assignment. | No. It's left out of the class grade |
Note: Setting work to Excused clears any points on it, so it can't affect the grade.
If the class uses a grading system, work only counts when its assignment has one of that system's grade categories. The View student work window warns you when an assignment has no category. See Grading Systems.
Leave comments on student work
In the View student work window, write feedback under Comments (visible to student). The student sees your comments on the assignment in the student portal, and the student and their parents are notified by email. You'll get an email when they reply.
Return work to a student
If work needs revision, return it:
- Open the actions menu on the student's row.
- Choose Return to student. This option only appears for work that has been turned in.
- Click Return work to confirm.
The work is un-turned-in: its submission and status are cleared, and it leaves your To grade queue until the student turns it in again. The student and their parents get an email saying it was returned, and the student can change it and resubmit.
Unassign a student
The row's actions menu also has Unassign. Click Unassign again to confirm.
Warning: Unassigning removes the student's work and grade for this assignment, and their class grade is recalculated without it.
Grade in bulk
Select several rows with the checkboxes, then use:
- Change status: set one status on everything selected. Choose No status (back to To grade) to clear it.
- Set points: give everything selected the same score. It replaces their current points, and it can't be more than the lowest max points among the selected assignments.
- Clear points: remove points from everything selected (after confirmation).
On an assignment's Student work tab, you can also Unassign several students at once.
Email notifications
- You're emailed when a student turns in work.
- Students and parents are emailed when you return work or comment on it.