The Graide Network, a provider of online grading support to K-12 schools, helps educators increase the quality of writing instruction and meet new standards for student writing. By providing a resource for more frequent feedback, districts can offer more opportunities for students to engage in meaningful writing, more time for teachers to focus on instruction and planning, and have access to better data to know how students’ writing skills are progressing during the year.
“Reading and responding to student writing with specific, actionable feedback is incredibly time-consuming, a task that teachers cannot regularly shoulder alone,” said Blair Pircon, co-founder and CEO of The Graide Network. “Our service helps teachers get way more out of their workweek, speed cycles of feedback and revision for students, and address the rigor of new standards by providing deep insights on student writing.”
Two of The Graide Network’s newest customers, Fullerton School District (Fullerton, California) and Richmond County Public Schools (Warsaw, VA) are using the service to provide more timely feedback on student writing benchmarks. In addition, data from the platform’s reports will help administrators understand how students are going to perform on state assessments. "I want my teachers and school leaders to see how important writing truly is to our strategic plan,” says Sarah Schmidt, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Richmond County Public Schools. “I'm investing in The Graide Network to ensure we are fully supporting this critical priority.”
Schools can assign any type of writing and use rubrics and prompts that are aligned to their district or state standards and learning objectives. The Graide Network’s online teaching assistants are graduate and undergraduate students and they hand-score assignments on the rubric, providing personalized areas of strength and growth for each student. Within days, teachers can view detailed class and individual student reports. Reports are used for instructional planning, class-wide discussion, one-on-one student conferencing, teacher professional development meetings with colleagues and coaches, progress reporting with school leaders, and district planning.
The Graide Network’s supplemental instructional support reaches all students and teachers for a fraction of the cost of a full-time employee. This model allows districts to invest in their teachers, develop college-ready writers, and address equity and access for all students. The Graide Network is available as a school or district subscription and pricing is based on the number of students and number of assignments per year.
Recent results have shown that high-quality feedback can increase student performance. Prussing Elementary School located in Chicago Public Schools implemented The Graide Network to increase student writing across content areas for grades 5-8 and saw impressive results. At the end of their first implementation year, students greatly exceeded district and national averages on the NWEA MAP® standardized test.
About The Graide Network
The Graide Network is building better writers through its online platform of feedback and grading support to K-12 schools. With an award-winning, innovative model, The Graide Network provides on-demand, formative feedback on student writing via remote teaching assistants. The support of “Graiders” unlocks the tremendous power of feedback to improve learning outcomes and puts relevant data at educators’ fingertips like never before. For more information, visit https://www.thegraidenetwork.com/.
