Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Grader

🎯 Role Definition

The Grader is responsible for evaluating student work against established rubrics and learning outcomes, delivering timely and constructive feedback to support student progress, maintaining accurate grade records in institution systems, and collaborating closely with instructors to ensure fairness, consistency, and academic integrity. This role requires strong attention to detail, excellent written communication, familiarity with Learning Management Systems (Canvas, Blackboard, etc.), and the ability to apply rubrics and scoring guidelines consistently across diverse assignments and formats.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Undergraduate or graduate student with subject-matter knowledge and prior coursework in the discipline.
Peer tutor or teaching assistant with experience providing feedback and support to learners.
Academic work-study or course assistant who has supported instructors with administrative and evaluation tasks.

Advancement To:

Lead Grader / Senior Grader overseeing other graders and calibration.
Teaching Assistant or Course Instructor (adjunct/part-time).
Assessment Coordinator, Academic Success Specialist, or Instructional Designer.
Curriculum Developer or Learning Outcomes Analyst who designs assessments and rubrics.

Lateral Moves:

Exam Proctor or Test Administrator.
Content Developer for homework, quizzes, and assessment banks.
Student Success Coach or Tutor.

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Apply detailed rubrics and scoring guides to grade a high volume of assignments, quizzes, exams, lab reports, essays, and projects with consistent standards and documented rationale for each score.
Provide clear, actionable, and constructive written feedback on student submissions that aligns with course learning objectives and supports measurable improvement.
Maintain accurate and up-to-date gradebooks in the institution's Learning Management System (e.g., Canvas, Blackboard, Brightspace) and ensure all entries match source artifacts and instructor records.
Calibrate grading decisions through regular norming sessions with instructors and fellow graders to minimize inter-rater variance and uphold reliability across sections.
Evaluate open-ended responses and subjective work by synthesizing rubric criteria into defensible scores, noting partial credit decisions and examples for instructor review.
Review and investigate suspected integrity issues (plagiarism, collusion) in coordination with instructors and academic integrity offices, documenting evidence and following institutional procedures.
Administer and monitor online or in-person exams when acting in a proctoring capacity, including identity verification, accommodation checks, and incident reporting.
Process regrade and grade appeal requests professionally and transparently: re-evaluate artifacts, document findings, and communicate outcomes to instructors and students.
Tag and archive graded artifacts, anonymize student identifiers when required, and ensure FERPA-compliant handling and storage of student assessment data.
Transfer final grades to the Student Information System (SIS) accurately and within deadlines, reconciling discrepancies and producing summary reports for instructors.
Use automated grading tools, scripts, or autograders (e.g., Gradescope, CodeGrade, custom Python/JavaScript scripts) to accelerate scoring while validating automated output for edge cases.
Assist instructors with rubric design and continuous improvement by translating learning outcomes into measurable criteria and recommending adjustments to improve validity and fairness.
Track assessment trends and common error patterns across submissions, generating actionable insights that inform instructors' reteaching priorities and assessment redesign.
Score multimedia, coding assignments, and interactive labs by running code, verifying outputs, and documenting reproducibility steps to support credit allocation.
Communicate grading policies, deadlines, and procedures to students via LMS announcements and email in a respectful, student-centered manner.
Maintain confidentiality and professionalism when handling sensitive student records and during communications regarding academic standing or disciplinary matters.
Attend instructor-led meetings, grading workshops, and professional development sessions to stay aligned with course pedagogy and assessment updates.
Support accessibility and accommodation requests by following documented procedures to ensure equitable assessment conditions and alternate formats when required.
Mentor and onboard new graders by providing rubric walk-throughs, exemplar scoring, and feedback on scoring consistency.
Prepare and deliver concise grading summaries, sample-score packets, and item analyses (e.g., difficulty, discrimination indices) for instructor review and accreditation needs.
Manage time-sensitive rush grading, large-volume midterm/final scoring, and turn-key grading processes during peak academic periods while maintaining accuracy and feedback quality.
Coordinate with instructional design and academic technology teams to troubleshoot LMS gradebook sync issues, upload batches of grades, and verify integration integrity.
Participate in post-course assessment audits to ensure alignment between grades, rubrics, and declared course learning outcomes used for accreditation reporting.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.
Provide periodic quality assurance checks on grading spreadsheets and automated pipelines to prevent systematic errors.
Assist in preparing materials for faculty accreditation reviews and program assessment documentation.
Help develop FAQ guidance and templated responses to common student grading questions.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Proficient with Learning Management Systems (Canvas, Blackboard, Moodle, Brightspace) for grade entry, feedback posting, and file management.
Experienced in rubric creation and rubric-based scoring with proven ability to operationalize learning objectives into measurable criteria.
Familiarity with grading platforms such as Gradescope, Turnitin, Crowdmark, or other digital assessment tools for streamlined submission, annotation, and scoring.
Competent with spreadsheet tools (Excel, Google Sheets) for grade calculations, pivot tables, error checks, and batch uploads to SIS.
Basic experience with Student Information Systems (PeopleSoft, Banner, PowerCampus) or grade export/import workflows.
Ability to use plagiarism detection tools (Turnitin, Unicheck) and interpret similarity reports to inform integrity reviews.
Exposure to automated grading or autograders (unit tests, JUnit/pytest, CodeRunner, custom scripts) for code and STEM assignments.
Strong written communication skills for drafting concise feedback, gradejustifications, and student-facing instructions.
Data hygiene and version control practices for managing submission artifacts and grading spreadsheets.
Ability to produce assessment analytics (item analysis, score distributions) to identify assessment validity concerns.
Basic familiarity with accessibility standards and accommodations workflows to implement equitable grading practices.
Comfort with integrating multimedia artifacts, handling large file uploads, and evaluating non-textual assignments (video, oral presentations).

Soft Skills

Exceptional attention to detail and commitment to grading accuracy and fairness.
Strong time management and prioritization skills to meet tight grading deadlines and peak-period volume.
Excellent written and interpersonal communication; tactful in delivering critical feedback and handling disputes.
Consistent and impartial judgment with an ethical approach to student evaluation and confidentiality.
Collaborative mindset for working with instructors, TAs, and administrative teams on calibration and process improvements.
Problem-solving orientation and resourcefulness when encountering unclear rubric language or ambiguous submissions.
Patience and empathy toward students’ learning needs and diverse backgrounds.
Adaptability to changing rubrics, course policies, and technical platforms.
Professionalism under pressure during high-volume grading windows.
Coaching and mentoring ability to train new graders and share best practices.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

High school diploma or equivalent and demonstrated subject competency; many roles accept current undergraduate students with strong coursework in the subject area.

Preferred Education:

Bachelor's degree in related discipline or enrollment in a relevant undergraduate/graduate program (e.g., Mathematics, English, Computer Science, Education, Biology).

Relevant Fields of Study:

Education, Assessment, and Measurement
Subject-specific degrees (Mathematics, Computer Science, English, Biology, Psychology)
Instructional Design or Curriculum Development
Applied Linguistics or TESOL (for language grading)

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 0–3 years of grading, tutoring, teaching assistant, or instructional support experience.

Preferred:

1+ semesters of experience as a teaching assistant, grader, or tutor for the specific course subject.
Familiarity with the course LMS and grading tools used by the hiring institution.
Prior experience applying rubrics consistently across dozens to hundreds of student submissions and participating in calibration sessions.