Free response questions are graded by you, not by Albert. When a student answers an FRQ, it waits for your grade. You score it against the question's rubric, add feedback, and release grades when you are ready for students to see them.
Note: Grades reach students and your reports only after you release them.
Open the grading panel
Click the Home tab, and click Assignments under Classwork.
Find the assignment with FRQ responses to grade and click Grade on its row.
Note: To find these assignments quickly, click Filters, then Needs Grading.
A student's submission opens. In the question list, select the free response question. Questions waiting on you are marked Needs Grading.
Click Grade to open the grading panel.
Note: A student does not have to finish the whole assignment for their FRQ to be gradeable. An answered FRQ shows as Needs Grading even while the rest of their assignment is still unfinished.
Score against the rubric
Work through the rubric one part at a time, entering a score for each part.
The Total score updates as you go.
To set a different total, type it into Total score. This replaces the rubric total, and your per-part scores stay as they are.
Click Reset to clear that override and return to the rubric total.
[Pro-tip] Total score accepts two decimal places, so half and quarter points like 2.5 or 2.25 work. The grade in Albert can match the grade on your paper rubric exactly.
Leave feedback
Click Add note for this criterion beside a rubric part to comment on that part of the response.
Click Add an overall comment for the student to speak to the response as a whole. This appears at the top of what the student sees.
Preview what the student will see
Click Preview at any point to see the response exactly as the student will receive it: your overall comment and their score at the top, then each rubric part with its score and your note.
Grade across your classes
If the assignment went to more than one class, use the class filter at the top to narrow to a single class, or leave it on all classes.
Move between students with Previous student and Next student. These cover every student who received the assignment, whatever class they are in.
Use Filter students to filter by Needs grading or Grading complete, so you can work through only what is still outstanding.
Release grades
When you have finished grading, click Release Grades.
Review the summary. It tells you how many responses are graded across all classes and how many will be released.
Click Release Grades to confirm.
Note: Releasing cannot be undone. Students see their score and feedback as soon as you release.
What happens after you release
Students see their score, the rubric, your note on each part, and your overall comment. The assignment stays highlighted in their assignment list until they open it and view their questions.
Reports count released grades only. A grade must be released before it appears in reports, so if a report looks like it is missing data, check whether you have released.
Grades stay editable. After releasing, anything you change reaches the student as soon as you save it, with no second release step.
Good to know
Grading in progress means grades are not released yet, not that you have grading left to do. It appears on the question once you have saved a grade and stays until you release.
A response a student never answered shows as Not Submitted and cannot be graded. There is nothing to score against.
Partial credit is always on for FRQs. Rubric scoring is partial credit by definition. Learn how partial credit works.
FRQ responses submitted before this feature launched keep their existing scores. Nothing moves into your grading queue on its own, but you can open one and grade it against the rubric if you want the score to reflect your own judgment.