--- title: "AI Essay Grader for Teachers: Rubric Scores, You Approve" description: "Free AI essay grader for teachers. Score essays against your rubric criterion by criterion, with quoted evidence and feedback you approve. 30 free a month." canonical: https://formswrite.com/ai-essay-grader last-updated: 2026-10-18 --- AI Essay Grader # AI Essay Grader for Teachers Formswrite's AI essay grader scores each essay against your rubric one criterion at a time and quotes the sentences behind every score. You review, edit and approve each grade before a student sees it, and the first 30 essays every month are free. [Grade essays free](/accounts/signup?source=ai-essay-grader&returnUrl=%2Fdashboard%2Fgrader%2Fnew)[Browse rubrics](/rubrics) - 30 free essays a month - Your rubric or ours - You approve every grade Argumentative essay Student 14 14 / 16 - Claim4/4 - Evidence3/4 - Reasoning3/4 - Conventions4/4 Evidence for Evidence “The city's own 2023 survey found that 62 percent of riders would take the bus more often if it came every ten minutes.” GlowYour claim is precise and you return to it in every paragraph. GrowExplain why the survey supports your claim, not only what it says. Hidden from the student until you approveApprove ## How the essay grader works One assignment, one rubric, the whole class set. Most of your time goes to reviewing, not to the first read. 1. Pip ### Set up the assignment Give it a title, the grade level and the prompt, and add any source texts the students wrote from, so the grader knows what was asked. [Start an assignment Set up the assignment](/accounts/signup?source=ai-essay-grader&returnUrl=%2Fdashboard%2Fgrader%2Fnew) 2. Nova ### Pick or paste a rubric Choose a verified rubric (AP DBQ, LEQ, AP Lang, AP Lit and more), paste or upload your own, or generate one. Check the criteria and points before you grade. [Start an assignment Pick or paste a rubric](/accounts/signup?source=ai-essay-grader&returnUrl=%2Fdashboard%2Fgrader%2Fnew) 3. Momo ### Add the essays Paste text, upload one Word, PDF or text file per student (or one PDF for the whole class), add Google Docs links, photograph handwritten pages, or import from Google Classroom or Google Forms. [Start an assignment Add the essays](/accounts/signup?source=ai-essay-grader&returnUrl=%2Fdashboard%2Fgrader%2Fnew) 4. Kiki ### Review and approve Each essay comes back with a level, points, quoted evidence and a reason per criterion, plus glow and grow feedback. Edit anything, regrade one criterion, then approve. [Start an assignment Review and approve](/accounts/signup?source=ai-essay-grader&returnUrl=%2Fdashboard%2Fgrader%2Fnew) ## What you get for every essay The grader shows its work, so checking a score takes seconds instead of a second full read. - ### Evidence for every score Each criterion gets a level, points and the exact sentences from the essay that justify them, highlighted in the essay. - ### Glow and grow feedback What the student did well and the next step to improve, in a tone you choose: encouraging, neutral or direct, short or detailed. - ### A review queue and a second grade Essays the grader is unsure about get a second, independent grade from another model; disagreements are flagged "please review", so your attention goes where it is needed. - ### Names removed first Student names are stripped before the essay reaches the AI model, and nothing is shared with students until you approve. - ### Class insights Average score per criterion and the students who need reteaching on each one, ready for tomorrow’s lesson. - ### Exports that fit your gradebook A CSV with one column per criterion, PDF feedback sheets per student or for the class, or a private feedback link. ## Bring essays in the form you have Typed, handwritten, or straight from Google Classroom and Google Forms. - ### Paste or upload Paste essays one by one, or upload Word (.docx), PDF or text files, one per student. The student name comes from the file name or the first line. One PDF with the whole class can be split by student. - ### Google Docs links Paste the links to students’ Google Docs and the grader reads each essay. - ### Handwritten essays Photograph the pages with your phone or upload a scanned PDF. You check the transcription, with unclear words highlighted and the page images alongside, before you approve. [Learn more about Handwritten essays](/grade-handwritten-essays) - ### Google Classroom and Google Forms Import turned-in work from a Classroom assignment, or the paragraph answers of a Google Form or a Formswrite form. Results go out as a CSV or Google Sheet, and back to Classroom when the assignment was created from Formswrite. [Learn more about Google Classroom and Google Forms](/integrations/google-classroom-ai-grading) ## Grader vs pasting essays into a chatbot A general chatbot can comment on one essay. A grader is built for the class set. | | Formswrite grader | General chatbot | | --- | --- | --- | | Grades a whole class set in one batch | Yes | No | | Same rubric applied to every essay automatically | Yes | No | | Student names removed before the AI sees the essay | Yes | No | | Nothing reaches students until you approve | Yes | No | | Per-criterion scores in a gradebook CSV | Yes | No | | Class averages per criterion | Yes | No | ## What an AI essay grader can and cannot do An AI essay grader is good at the slow, repetitive part of grading: reading every essay against the same criteria, finding the thesis, checking whether evidence is specific, and drafting a comment for each row of the rubric. It stays as consistent on the thirtieth essay as on the first. It is weaker on voice, humor, unusual structures and arguments that only work in context, which is why the Formswrite grader never finalizes a grade on its own and flags essays it is unsure about. The quality of the result depends mostly on the rubric. “Uses at least two specific pieces of evidence that support the claim” grades well; “shows deep understanding” does not. If you are writing a rubric from scratch, the [rubric generator](/tools/rubric-generator) drafts observable criteria you can edit, and the [rubric library](/rubrics) explains the AP rubrics row by row. ## A free essay grader with real limits Every Formswrite account grades 30 essays a month for free. That is a full class set, enough to compare the grader with your own scores on a real assignment before you rely on it. Pro costs $19 a month or $49.99 a year (about $4.17 a month) and raises the allowance to about 400 essays a month under a fair use limit. The grader, the rubric library and the exports are the same on both plans. ## How to check an AI grader before you trust it 1. Grade five to ten essays yourself first: a strong one, a weak one and a few in the middle. 2. Run the same essays through the grader with the same rubric. 3. Where a score differs by more than one level, read the grader's quoted evidence and reason. Usually the rubric wording is the cause, so tighten it and regrade that criterion. 4. Keep reviewing every grade before approval, and read in full any essay the grader flags. We are measuring agreement between the grader and officially scored sample essays and will publish that study, with its method, before quoting any accuracy figure. Our earlier guide on [whether AI can grade essays](/blog/can-ai-grade-essays) covers where AI grading is reliable and where it is not. ## AP, state test and classroom rubrics For AP teachers the library includes the College Board rubric rows for the [DBQ](/rubrics/dbq-rubric), [LEQ](/rubrics/leq-rubric), the three [AP Lang essays](/rubrics/ap-lang-rubric) and the three [AP Lit essays](/rubrics/ap-lit-rubric), each linked to its official source. The dedicated [AP History essay grader](/ap-history-essay-grader) and [AP Lang essay grader](/ap-lang-essay-grader) pages explain how those essays are scored. The library also has the [SAQ](/rubrics/saq-rubric), [AP Seminar IWA](/rubrics/ap-seminar-iwa-rubric) and [AP Gov argument essay](/rubrics/ap-gov-argument-essay-rubric) rubrics, the [ACT writing](/rubrics/act-writing-rubric) and [STAAR](/rubrics/staar-writing-rubric) rubrics, and classroom rubrics for [argumentative](/rubrics/argumentative-essay-rubric), [narrative, informative and expository](/rubrics/essay-rubric) writing. Any rubric you paste works the same way. Writing the comments yourself? The free [essay feedback generator](/tools/essay-feedback-generator) builds glow and grow comments per criterion, and the [report card comment generator](/tools/report-card-comment-generator) does the same for end-of-term reports. Comparing tools? See [Formswrite vs CoGrader](/compare/formswrite-vs-cograder) and our [best AI essay graders](/blog/best-ai-essay-graders) roundup. ## Calibration: teach the grader your standard Grade or correct three to five essays yourself and mark them “use as example”. The grader uses them as anchors for the rest of the class set, shows how often it matches you within 1 point, and tells you per criterion whether it runs stricter or more generous than you. One click regrades the remaining essays with your grading. When an essay is borderline, a second model grades it independently and any disagreement lands in your review queue; you can also ask for a second opinion on any essay. ## Handwritten essays, Google Classroom and Google Forms Paper essays work too: [photograph handwritten essays](/grade-handwritten-essays) with your phone or upload a scanned PDF, then check the transcription with the page images beside it. The [Google Classroom import](/integrations/google-classroom-ai-grading) brings in turned-in work from an assignment; grades go back to Classroom for assignments created from Formswrite (a Classroom limit), and students get a private feedback link because Classroom has no comments for apps. The [Google Forms import](/integrations/google-forms-ai-grading) grades paragraph answers and exports a CSV or Google Sheet, since Google Forms cannot take grades back. ## Feedback in your students' language Feedback can be written in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, Filipino, Indonesian or Hindi, set per assignment. Read it before you approve, as you would in English. ## What is not available Canvas and Schoology sync, and AI-writing or plagiarism detection, are not part of the grader. More answers are in the [AI grading FAQ](/ai-grading/faq). ## What it costs Start free with 30 essays a month. Pro is $19 a month or $49.99 a year (about $4.17 a month). - ### Free $0 No credit card - 30 graded essays a month - Typed, uploaded or handwritten essays, or imports from Google Classroom and Google Forms - Every rubric in the library, plus your own - Review and approve before students see anything [Start grading free](/accounts/signup?source=ai-essay-grader-plans&returnUrl=%2Fdashboard%2Fgrader%2Fnew) - ### Pro $49.99 /year or $19 /month. Cancel or pause anytime. - Up to 400 essays a month (fair use) - Everything in Free: the same grader, rubrics and exports - Room for every class you teach, all year - All Formswrite Pro features, from quizzes to Google Forms export [See Pro plans](/pricing) ## Grading tools and rubric guides - [Rubric GraderBring any rubric, analytic, holistic or single point, and grade a class set against it.](/rubric-grader) - [AP History Essay GraderDBQ and LEQ essays scored on the College Board rubric rows.](/ap-history-essay-grader) - [AP Lang Essay GraderSynthesis, rhetorical analysis and argument essays on the 6-point rubric.](/ap-lang-essay-grader) - [Rubric libraryAP rubrics explained row by row, with examples and a grade-with-this-rubric link.](/rubrics) - [Rubric GeneratorDraft a rubric for any assignment, then grade essays with it.](/tools/rubric-generator) - [AI GraderEssays, short answers and open quiz questions in one place.](/ai-grader) ## AI essay grader FAQ What is an AI essay grader? An AI essay grader reads a student essay, compares it with each criterion of a rubric and suggests a level and points per criterion, with a short reason and feedback. In Formswrite the suggestion is a draft: the teacher reviews it, edits any score or comment, and approves it before the student sees anything. Is the Formswrite essay grader free? Yes. Every account grades 30 essays a month for free, with every library rubric and your own rubrics, and no credit card. Pro ($19 a month or $49.99 a year) raises that to about 400 essays a month under a fair use limit, together with the rest of Formswrite Pro. How accurate is AI essay grading? It depends on the rubric and the essay. Clear, observable criteria grade far more consistently than vague ones, and unusual or very creative essays need a closer read. We are running our own agreement study against officially scored sample essays and will publish the results before quoting any accuracy number. Until then the rule is simple: the AI drafts, you decide, and no grade reaches a student without your approval. Can I use my own rubric? Yes. Paste your rubric or upload it as a Word or PDF file, and the grader turns it into criteria, levels and points that you can check and edit. You can also start from a verified library rubric such as the AP History DBQ or the AP Lang argument essay, or draft one with the free rubric generator. Can it grade handwritten essays? Yes. Photograph each student’s pages with your phone (a QR code moves you from laptop to phone, and "Next student" starts the next essay) or upload a scanned PDF. The grader transcribes the handwriting, highlights words it could not read for sure and shows the page images beside the text, so you can fix any word and regrade before you approve. Do my students see the AI feedback straight away? No. Every essay waits in your review screen until you approve it. Essays the grader is unsure about are flagged for review first. After approval you can export a CSV of scores, print PDF feedback sheets, or share a private feedback link with each student. Is student data safe? Student names are removed before an essay is sent to the AI model, and our AI provider is set to deny data collection, so the text is not used for training. Only you and the people you share an assignment with can see it. Use any AI tool for student work only within your school or district policy. Does it work with Google Classroom or Canvas? Google Classroom, yes: pick a class and an assignment and the turned-in Docs, Word, PDF and text files come in as essays. Classroom only accepts grades from the app that created the assignment, so grades go back for assignments created from Formswrite; for others you download the CSV. Classroom has no comments for apps, so students get a private feedback link. Canvas and Schoology sync are not available. Last reviewed October 18, 2026 by the Formswrite team, against the live product. ## Grade your next class set tonight Pick a rubric, add the essays, review the drafts and approve. 30 essays a month are free. - No credit card - Your rubric or ours - You approve every grade [Grade essays free](/accounts/signup?source=ai-essay-grader&returnUrl=%2Fdashboard%2Fgrader%2Fnew)[See pricing](/pricing)