As artificial intelligence continues to revolutionize education, an increasing number of teachers are turning to smart tools that simplify grading and feedback. While popular apps like Grammarly and Turnitin dominate discussions, a growing list of lesser-known AI-powered platforms are quietly transforming classrooms with accuracy and efficiency. These hidden gems offer powerful capabilities, making educators’ lives easier and enabling more personalized student support.
TLDR:
While mainstream AI apps like Turnitin and Grammarly are well-known among educators, several lesser-known platforms are also gaining traction for grading and feedback tasks. These tools help save time, promote consistent evaluation, and offer meaningful suggestions for student improvement. Some focus on writing, while others analyze performance and behavior trends. This article explores five of these unsung heroes and how they’re making a big impact in classrooms.
1. Sown to Grow
Sown to Grow is a unique AI tool allowing students to set goals, reflect on learning, and receive actionable feedback—not just grades. Teachers can assess student reflections alongside academic work, using integrated AI analysis to understand not only what was learned, but how it was learned.
This app encourages a growth mindset and metacognitive awareness, especially useful in K–12 environments. Teachers rely on Sown to Grow to offer feedback that goes beyond right or wrong and instead focuses on process—which can be just as important for student development.
- AI Functionality: Analyzes reflections for language patterns and emotional tone
- Use Case: Helps evaluate student goal-setting and self-assessment
- Best For: Middle and high school classrooms with SEL (Social-Emotional Learning) components
2. Gradescope
Developed initially by a team at UC Berkeley, Gradescope offers powerful AI-assisted grading for paper-based and digital exams. It utilizes machine learning to cluster similar responses and suggest consistent feedback, dramatically reducing grading time for large classes or standardized assessments.
Despite its growing popularity in higher ed, Gradescope remains relatively under-the-radar in K–12 settings. For math, science, and engineering instructors, this AI solution shines by automatically recognizing numeric patterns, symbols, and even handwritten work with surprising accuracy.
- AI Functionality: Groups similar answers and supports rubric-based grading
- Use Case: Streamlines scoring for math, science, and technical subjects
- Best For: STEM educators and college-level instructors
3. Snorkel AI (for Custom Feedback Automation)
Though not designed specifically for educators, Snorkel AI is being increasingly adopted by technically-inclined education professionals looking to build custom grading and feedback workflows. A powerful data-labeling platform, Snorkel allows users to generate training data for machine learning models using weak supervision.
Teachers and instructional designers can leverage Snorkel to train models that, for instance, flag incomplete answers, detect alignment with learning objectives, or offer scaffolded suggestions on essay improvement. Though its use requires some technical skills, the payoff is a highly customizable AI system for feedback automation.
- AI Functionality: Enables building custom NLP (Natural Language Processing) models
- Use Case: Advanced AI workflows for personalized feedback
- Best For: Tech-savvy educators and curriculum specialists
4. Loonycorn’s EssayGrader
EssayGrader by Loonycorn is a lesser-known AI tool that provides rapid analysis of student writing based on key rubrics such as cohesion, clarity, and argument strength. Teachers upload batches of essays into the platform, which then evaluates and scores them in minutes, offering detailed areas for improvement.
Used primarily in AP English and college-prep settings, the software helps teachers ensure consistency, especially when evaluating subjective writing. EssayGrader’s AI reads like a teaching assistant, saving tens of hours each grading cycle.
- AI Functionality: Analyzes linguistic structure, tone, and clarity of writing
- Use Case: Lightens teacher workload for essay grading
- Best For: Language arts and humanities educators
5. Writable
Although gaining visibility, Writable still remains underrated compared to tools like Turnitin. It combines AI writing assistance, rubrics-based grading, peer review, and teacher oversight in a seamless ecosystem built for writing-intensive curricula.
Its AI component generates feedback on grammar, structure, and evidence while encouraging student voice. Teachers can track data over time to identify improvement areas and tailor instruction. Plus, it integrates with Google Classroom and Canvas, making it easy to adopt.
- AI Functionality: Suggests writing improvements and matches to rubric criteria
- Use Case: Writing instruction, frequent formative assessment, peer review
- Best For: Middle to high school ELA and Social Studies teachers
Why These AI Apps Matter
Educators today face mounting pressure to meet administrative requirements, maintain student engagement, and provide meaningful feedback—all while balancing giant workloads. These lesser-known AI tools offer more than just automation. They help teachers:
- Focus on student growth and learning journeys
- Maintain fairness and consistency in grading
- Gain insights from data that would be tough to analyze manually
Most importantly, these tools allow educators to reclaim precious time for human connection and deeper instruction. While mainstream tools get the spotlight, it’s often the lesser-known innovations that push the envelope in practical ways.
FAQs
Q: Do these AI tools replace teachers in grading?
A: No, these tools are meant to assist and enhance a teacher’s workflow. They provide feedback, consistency, and time-saving features, but final decisions on grading and feedback still rest with the educator.
Q: Are these tools secure and FERPA-compliant?
A: Most of these apps are designed with educational settings in mind and comply with data privacy regulations such as FERPA and GDPR. Always review a platform’s privacy policy before use.
Q: Which of these apps require coding experience?
A: Only Snorkel AI requires technical expertise to implement. Most others are user-friendly, with straightforward interfaces for educators.
Q: Can these tools handle non-English languages?
A: Some tools like Writable and Gradescope support multiple languages or symbols, especially for STEM assessments. However, language availability varies per app and should be checked individually.
Q: Are these apps free to use?
A: Many offer free trial versions or freemium plans for small-scale use. Institution-wide deployments or full feature sets often require a paid subscription.