When teachers logged into their IEW® Gradebook accounts this July, one comment summed it up best: “It just keeps getting better!” That’s because IEW Gradebook's latest 2.0 update is more than a polished look. It is a more efficient platform better designed to help IEW instructors stay organized and save time without compromising meaningful feedback.
Built for IEW Teachers by IEW Teachers
IEW Gradebook was born out of a simple but powerful wish: I want a computer to find and grade the stylistic items on the checklist. That dream, combined with the skill of a dedicated programmer and knowledgeable IEW staff, resulted in a tool that has transformed how IEW teachers manage their workload.
Before its public release in June 2024, IEW Online had used the online tool to evaluate over 800 student papers each week for the entire academic year. Since its release, IEW Gradebook’s usage has skyrocketed, and over 47,000 papers have been graded to date. As IEW instructors, teachers, and tutors collectively grade thousands of papers each week, they praise IEW Gradebook’s time-saving features that not only assist in grading but also in managing classroom assignments, student records, and, of course, student submissions.
Feedback from the Front Lines
After the 2024–2025 school year, select users were invited to share their experience through a feedback survey. Their insights directly shaped the 2.0 release, resulting in a more flexible, feature-rich platform that better meets the needs of the users and makes grading faster.
What’s New in 2.0?
Polished User Interface
The most noticeable change in the 2.0 release is a polished new interface. The redesigned layout removes visual clutter, making it easier to focus on what matters most: grading student submissions. With fewer clicks and a cleaner display, the updated interface has made existing features easier to access and more intuitive to use.
Smarter Wands
IEW Gradebook’s signature feature—its ability to recognize stylistic elements like -ly adverbs, strong verbs, and #2 prepositional sentence openers—has become even smarter. During the 2024–2025 school year, teachers depended on IEW Gradebook to provide grading suggestions regarding -ly adverbs, strong verbs, and quality adjectives. This coming year, IEW Gradebook provides grading suggestions on every dress-up and sentence opener. This means IEW Gradebook is able to detect if a prepositional phrase begins with a preposition and ends with a noun, and it knows if a www.asia.b clause contains a subject and a verb.
In the 2.0 release, IEW Gradebook not only identifies the marked dress-ups and sentence openers but also determines if the items are grammatically correct and assigns a score to the student’s checklist. When a student indicates a stylistic technique, IEW Gradebook highlights it for you. A wand indicates whether the element is correctly applied or needs teacher review.
Improved Features
Several other existing features are easier to access, more intuitive to use, and better integrated into your grading workflow.
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- Quick Comments let you save commonly used feedback phrases and insert them with a single click.
- The Memo Tool allows you to jot down notes visible only to you about a student’s progress or specific needs.
- Classroom Templates allow teachers to create templates from scratch or adjust shared ones to suit their teaching style.
- Schools, co-ops, and tutoring organizations can share templates across instructors and even enable collaborative grading between classrooms.
- Google File Integration allows instructors to generate Google files directly within the classroom interface.
- Structure and Style® tracking helps you monitor how well a student incorporates specific checklist requirements. This makes it easier to measure student growth and provide feedback to both students and parents.
- Short tutorial videos are available for both teachers and students, covering everything from formatting papers to grading submissions with confidence.
Ready to Get Started?
Whether you’re grading five student compositions each week or fifty, IEW Gradebook is built to support you. It’s more than just a tool—it’s a teaching assistant that helps you stay organized, save time, and give quality feedback.
Log in today and experience how IEW Gradebook can streamline your grading process.
by Heidi Thomas
