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
Checked against TEA's own scorers
We graded 452 released STAAR responses from TEA's scoring guides and compared EnlightenAI with TEA's official scores.
- 94%
- of writing short answers got TEA's official scoreTEA's two scorers agreed 87–94% of the time
- 86%
- of reading short answers got TEA's official scoreTEA's two scorers agreed 77–85% of the time
- 0.83
- agreement score on essay IdeasTEA reports 0.74–0.83 for its scorers
Agreement score: how closely two graders match, from 0 to 1. How to read these results
How the STAAR writing grader works
- Step 1Import essays
Import your student essays
Pull ECR and SCR responses from Google Classroom or Canvas, or upload Google Docs and Word files.
- Step 2
Grade the first few together
Score a few responses on TEA's rubric with EnlightenAI beside you, so it learns how you apply each row.
- Step 3
AI grades the rest, you approve
EnlightenAI scores the rest. Review and approve each response, then see where your class needs reteaching.
Google Classroom
Canvas
UploadFeedback tied to the STAAR rubric
“Good job! Add more details and check your grammar.”
- Could apply to any essay
- Not tied to your rubric
- No clear next step
“You state a clear position on later start times. To reach a 3 in Development of Ideas, explain how the survey in paragraph 2 supports your claim, not just what it says.”
- Uses your rubric's criteria
- Points to the exact paragraph
- Gives a clear revision step
Official STAAR writing rubrics
TEA's rubrics, word for word from the source, for every grade band.
Built for teachers, by teachers
“After using EnlightenAI for a few weeks, my students demonstrated a clear upward trajectory in their ability to integrate feedback and substantiate their claims.”
“Across all skill levels, students made meaningful revisions, showing noticeable improvements in grammar, structure, and analysis.”
“Grading, once my most dreaded task, became faster and far more efficient.”
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 with EnlightenAI’s AI rubric generator 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. Use EnlightenAI as an AI grading assistant for SCR responses or an AI writing grader for ECR responses, whichever your workflow needs.
Grade your next STAAR practice set with EnlightenAI
Free for teachers. Campuses and districts can talk with our team about STAAR benchmarks and reporting.