How Grading Fatigue Impacts Academic Fairness (And How We're Solving It)
Dr. Sarah Chen stared at her computer screen at 11:42 PM, rubbing her tired eyes. With seventy-eight papers graded and thirty-four to go, she caught herself having to re-read the same paragraph three times to comprehend it. As she calculated another B+ grade, she couldn't help but wonder if her exhaustion was affecting her consistency—if she would have scored it as an A- earlier in the day when her mind was fresher, and whether she was being fair to students whose papers landed at the end of the stack. Sound familiar?
Let's talk about something that keeps many educators up at night (besides their coffee): grading fatigue. Turns out it's not just in your head – it's a real phenomenon that can seriously affect how fairly students' work gets evaluated. I too have found myself in what feels like an academic version of a marathon, plowing through assignments into the late hours. Research by Leckie and Baird (2011) showed what many have suspected – the longer you grade, the harsher you tend to become. Students whose papers end up at the bottom of the pile might get tougher scores, not because their work is worse, but simply because their professor’s mental energy is running on empty. Tierney's (2013) work shows us that tired grading isn't just uncomfortable – it's potentially unfair highlighting differences in grades that reflect grader exhaustion rather than student performance.
Grading fatigue is a real struggle: after hours of reading and evaluating, even the best instructors can start to slip. So, grading fatigue isn’t just a personal struggle—it affects students, too. Should we only grade in the morning, one hour at a time? Or is there a better solution that could help educators avoid these issues without piling more onto their already full plates?
How Rubriko Eases the Load of Grading Fatigue
Grading isn’t going away, but we can get smarter about how we handle it and possibly use technology to ease the strain. Rubriko has some exciting ways to lighten the grading load and potentially tackle these issues:
Consistency: Unlike humans, Rubriko doesn’t get tired. It applies the same criteria at 2 AM as it does at 2 PM, helping maintain fairness.
Speed: Rubriko can handle routine aspects of grading quickly, letting educators focus their energy on more nuanced feedback.
Scalability: Particularly helpful for large classes where grading fatigue hits hardest.
Improved quality: Rubriko doesn’t just save time; it also enhances the quality of feedback. Its suggestions can help educators provide more detailed and personalized comments, no matter what time of day it is. This means instructors can really focus on what matters—supporting their students’ growth. After all, isn’t that what it’s all about?
References
Leckie, G., & Baird, J. A. (2011). Rater effects on essay scoring: A multilevel analysis of severity drift, central tendency, and rater experience. Journal of Educational Measurement, 48(4), 399-418. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1745-3984.2011.00152.x
Tierney, R. D. (2013). Fairness in classroom assessment. In J. H. McMillan (Ed.), SAGE Handbook of Research on Classroom Assessment (pp. 125-144). SAGE Publications.