The STAAR Writing Grader Built for Texas Teachers
Score STAAR essays and short answers against TEA's rubrics. EnlightenAI drafts a score and feedback for every response, and you approve each one before it goes back.
- Grades 3–8, English I–II
- Essays and short answers
- Free for teachers
Used by 10,000+ teachers in schools and districts across the country
How the STAAR writing grader works
KIPP Massachusetts nearly tripled its proficient essays
KIPP Massachusetts just got its state results back, and writing is a real bright spot. At KIPP Academy Boston (grades 3 to 8), 66% of students raised their essay scores from last year, averaging more than a full point of growth, and the number of proficient essays nearly tripled, from 51 to 152.
KIPP used EnlightenAI to score every practice essay and see strengths and growth areas for each student and cohort, something that wasn't possible at that scale before.
Shared by KIPP Massachusetts, October 2026.
66% of students, with more than a full point of growth on average
Hear from Emily Bisso
A National Board Certified teacher at KIPP New Orleans, Emily trained EnlightenAI on her AP U.S. Government rubric to save time on grading. Her school's pass rate rose from 39% to 51%, a school record. Source
See how KIPP New Orleans uses EnlightenAIExpert-level accuracy
With DREAM Charter Schools in New York, we compared EnlightenAI's scores on 147 grade 8 essays with the scores a DREAM administrator gave on New York State's rubric. Over 70% matched exactly, and every score was within one point.
Then an experienced New York City teacher scored the same essays with the same rubric. EnlightenAI agreed with each teacher more closely than the two teachers agreed with each other.
Read the full study- 70% exact match
- 30% within ±1 point
Includes the five essays used to train EnlightenAI.
FAQs: STAAR writing grader
EnlightenAI scores essays on TEA’s STAAR rubric, which has two rows: Development and Organization of Ideas (0 to 3) and Conventions (0 to 2), for Grades 3-5, 6-8, and English I/II. Short answers are scored on TEA’s short-answer scale. You can use the rubrics as-is, upload a modified version, or build a custom rubric in EnlightenAI for a specific assignment.
ECR (Extended Constructed Response) is the full essay, scored on Development and Organization of Ideas (0 to 3) and Conventions (0 to 2). SCR (Short Constructed Response) is a short answer, scored 0 to 2 in reading and 0 to 1 in writing. EnlightenAI grades both on TEA’s scales.
Yes. You review every AI-drafted score and comment before it reaches students. Adjust anything that needs changing, then export or return grades through your existing workflow.
Yes. EnlightenAI covers STAAR writing rubrics for Grades 3-5, Grades 6-8, and English I/II, so one tool works across a full department, not just one grade band.
Yes. EnlightenAI is FERPA-compliant, and student work is never shared with or used to train external AI models.
EnlightenAI’s core focus is TEKS-aligned STAAR scoring, not authorship detection. It does not currently flag plagiarism or text generated by tools like ChatGPT as a standalone feature. For schools that need that check, pair EnlightenAI with a dedicated AI detection or plagiarism tool alongside it.
Yes, scores and reports export in one click from the review screen. EnlightenAI does not currently offer a direct DMAC sync, exported scores are entered into DMAC or your gradebook the same way any externally graded assignment would be.
Yes. EnlightenAI scores against the official, TEKS-aligned STAAR rubric for both ECR and SCR responses, covering Organization, Development of Ideas, and Conventions. It is not a generic automated essay grader. It is an essay grader for teachers who need scores tied to the exact STAAR rubric, row by row.
EnlightenAI integrates directly with Google Classroom, Canvas, Google Docs and Drive, and Word uploads. If your school uses Schoology, essays can be uploaded manually the same way as a Word file.
Official STAAR writing rubrics. TEA's rubrics, word for word from the source, for every grade band.
All STAAR rubricsGrade your next STAAR practice set with EnlightenAI
Free for teachers. Campuses and districts can talk with our team about STAAR benchmarks and reporting.