In 2002, the United States Supreme Court ruled unanimously in the case of Owasso Independent School District v. Falvo that students may grade other students' papers, and may even announce scores to the class. Such “trading-and-grading” does not violate the provisions of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), passed by the United States Congress in 1974 to protect the confidentiality of students' records. So the smart thing for a teacher to do is let students grade each others' papers as often as possible!

Are you leery of this advice? Then try the alternative. Take home every paper that your students complete and see if you can grade them all as you sit bleary eyed in front of the TV, beginning with the 6:00 p.m. news and ending with Jay Leno. Most mere mortals can't do it. Little things like eating, sleeping, and participating in the lives of your loved ones keep getting in the way of grading all those wonderful papers.

Give yourself permission to let your students help grade each other's papers. With a little guidance from you, they can generally do a marvelous job, time after time. True, they won't always be perfect, but then neither will you, because perfection isn't of this world. All you have to do is skim and rapidly double check what your students have already graded, and all those papers will have been graded twice!

Of course, the only times you don't want your students grading papers is when it comes to essays, reports, complex projects, and other work that requires your subjective evaluation. But for work-a-day tests, exercise sheets, and the like, if the U.S. Supreme Court says trading-and-grading is okay, then it's okay.

Finally, remember that when students trade-and-grade, they get something valuable in return: instant feedback. Instead of waiting days or weeks for you to struggle to finish grading their work, they can see how they've done within minutes. This kind of instant feedback is treasured by high-performing students and helps low-performing students see immediately where they need to improve.

Trade-and-Grade Basics

Once you've made the decision to let students trade-and-grade, follow some commonsense procedures for best results. First, require students to bring red or other colored pens from home, storing such pens in their book bags or desks. Or, if you prefer, pass out red pens or pencils to your kids every time you need them to grade. Don't forget to collect all these grading materials afterward.

Next, require your students to trade with their nearest seat mates. Do not let students get up and trade with their best buddies. You'll get to know your students quite well, and if there's any question in your mind as to whether two kids have sought each other out because they'll grade each other's work too “creatively,” have those students immediately retrade with other students.

Circulate about the classroom with an answer key or your teacher's-edition textbook for the exercises your students have completed. Then, you can read the answers in one of two ways: (1) as a straight run-through, saying, “Number one, A. Number two, D,” and so forth if you're pressed for time; or (2) in a more measured manner, where you ask questions and use the time as an opportunity to reteach your earlier lesson.

The first approach has the virtue of being a great time saver. However, it may also leave some kids wondering, “Huh? Why'd I get that one wrong?” without receiving an explanation. Over time, such feelings can lead to frustration and impaired academic performance, as students struggle to figure out what went wrong and why they got certain problems incorrect.

You may wish to try the second approach, where you select students to reread the questions, and select other students to read the correct answers. During these exchanges, you are constantly reiterating concepts, answering questions, and reteaching. Time may not always permit such an exercise, but you might be surprised to find that once your students learn your routines, a lot can be accomplished in five minutes or less. This approach can prove extremely valuable to kids, especially the underperformers who no longer have to scratch their heads in bewilderment, but will understand why they missed certain problems. Try using this approach to grading if you feel it's right for you.

There are many ways for students to mark problems, but try this: Have your students mark each correct problem with a small letter “c” next to each correct problem and a small “x” next to each incorrect problem. You'll find that this is the easiest set of marks to see and comprehend. However, if some other set of marks seems better suited to your needs, use those. You might, for instance, have kids only mark incorrect problems, or use checkmarks for incorrect problems. Always use an individualized system that's best for you.

Actually, you'll quickly discover that kids have no problem marking incorrect problems with a nice, juicy red “x.” You'll generally find that kids are honest graders. After the trade-and-grade session is finished and you've answered any remaining questions, tell the kids to draw a small circle near the top of the paper. Then, they should write a grade fraction within the circle, with the denominator or bottom number representing the total number of problems possible and the numerator or top number representing the number of problems marked correct.

For example, on a paper with 20 problems, if a student got 19 correct the grader writes 19/20 in the circle. Remind students to mark neatly and never write extraneous comments or draw pictures on someone else's paper. Assign a monitor to collect all papers and promise your students you'll double check, record, and file the papers as soon as possible. Keep your promise, and finish by the end of the workday, if possible.

Congratulations! You're now grading papers the smart way and getting ten times more work done.