This lesson will guide you through grading a constructed response item on an assessment administered online. This means that students typed in a response, which Illuminate stores but does not grade for a user. The user must manually enter these scores. There are two ways to see these scores for grading: (1) by Question or (2) by Grid.
Before You Begin
Before you begin this lesson, make sure to:
- Have administered an assessment online to students
- Have items or questions to enter scores for such as constructed response or questions with a rubric value
- Permission to Enter/Edit scores in the accessed assessment
Where to Start

- Go to Assessments.
- Select View Assessments.
- Select the title of an assessment that has been given online.
Enter / Edit


- Click on the Administration tab.
- Select Enter / Edit.
- Use the search filters to find the students you wish to enter/edit grades for. Depending on your role, you may need to select a school, teacher, course and section from the filters.
- You can also choose to view all students or students with/without data using the View dropdown.
- Click Find Students.
Enter Student Scores
'by Grid' View
- By default, you will land on the by Grid view.
- Click Constructed Responses to jump to constructed response questions.
- Use the arrow keys to move between questions.
- Click Show Question and the question/rubric will display in a separate window. (Itembank assessments only)
- Enter the student's score in the scoring column to the right of the student's name. You can use the dropdown or type the score directly into the box.
- Once you Enter/Edit scores, the page will Autosave if the Autosave box is checked. If this is unchecked, you can manually save by pressing the blue Save button after you are done entering your scores.
'by Question' View
This recommended view allows for a multitude of tasks and review options in one screen.
- Click By Question at the top of the page. This view will show you written responses one student at a time.
- Use the question dropdown to jump to the question you need to score.
- Click the student's name to see his/her written response.
- Review the question rubric (Itembank assessments only): Click Question Info and the question/rubric will display in a separate window.
- Text annotations: (Optional) Select a word(s) and use the pop up box tools to leave quick corrective notes, or click on 'Write' (Red 'Write' will display as a negative comment, Green 'Write' is a positive comment) to write your own custom comment.
- Enter the student's score in the scoring column to the right of the student's name. You can use the dropdown or type the score directly into the box.
- Enter Comments: (Optional) This will display to students when they are reviewing an assessment in the Student Portal.
- Once you Enter/Edit scores, the page will Autosave if the Autosave box is checked. If this is unchecked, you can manually save by pressing the blue Save button after you are done entering your scores.
Next Steps
Now that you've graded Constructed Response question, review student performance on the Assessment Overview Page.