Why MarkScanner
A marked quiz is only useful if a student can act on it.
Marking a class set of handwritten math takes hours. A lot of that time goes to the same first pass: checking the same steps and writing the same comment for the twentieth time. MarkScanner exists to take that first pass off your plate, so more of your time goes to what happens after the quiz comes back.
Feedback
What a student gets back, and what helps
A marked math paper often comes back with a number at the top, some ticks and crosses, and a few words where there was time. “Check your signs” is true. It rarely tells a student where to look or what to do next.
Useful feedback on a math question answers three things:
- What worked. The setup, the method, the steps that were right.
- Where to look again. The line where it went wrong, and what went wrong there.
- What to try next. One action the student can take, such as redoing a line or checking by substitution.
“Line 3: (x + 1)(x + 3) expands to x2 + 4x + 3, but you need −4x. Find two numbers that multiply to +3 and add to −4, then expand to check.”
The steps
Two students, the same mark, different problems
Two students can lose the same mark for different reasons. One made a multiplication slip in a correct method. The other chose factors with the wrong signs. A gradebook shows them as identical. Their written steps don’t, and they need different next steps.
In math, a gap in one skill tends to show up again later. A student unsure about signs meets them again in factoring, in the quadratic formula, and in functions. The written steps are often where that shows up first, which is why the steps deserve as much attention as the final answer.
A fair rubric credits different valid methods and separates a slip from a deeper problem, according to what the question is meant to assess. Those are the teacher’s decisions. MarkScanner drafts against them; it doesn’t make them.
A classroom routine
From a short quiz to fresh evidence
One routine, not a rule. MarkScanner helps with the second and third steps. The rest happens in your classroom.
- 1
A short assessment
A quiz or a few questions on paper, with room for students to show their work.
You - 2
Marks you review
MarkScanner drafts marks and comments against the rubric you approve. You check the drafts, change what you disagree with, and approve.
MarkScanner + you - 3
Feedback goes back
Each student gets a sheet saying what worked, where marks were lost and why, and what to work on next.
You - 4
Students respond
Class time to read the comments, explain the error in their own words, and redo the step that went wrong.
Students - 5
Fresh evidence
A new question with different numbers shows whether the idea has landed, and tells you what to look at next.
Students + you
The full routine, with an example: math test corrections that give you new evidence.
Time
Where saving marking time fits
Saving marking time matters because it leaves time for the fourth and fifth steps: students responding to feedback, and fresh evidence of what they understand. More quizzes, faster turnaround, or longer comments don’t help on their own. What helps is feedback students understand and a real chance to use it.
The Education Endowment Foundation’s 2021 guidance report on feedback makes a similar point: plan for how students will receive and use feedback, and keep written feedback purposeful and time-efficient.
Ontario’s Growing Success policy (2010) describes ongoing descriptive feedback and teachers’ professional judgement as central to classroom assessment. MarkScanner is built around the second part as much as the first: the teacher approves the rubric and decides the final marks.
General research on feedback doesn’t show that MarkScanner improves learning. We describe what MarkScanner is designed to do, not outcomes we haven’t measured.
For students
What MarkScanner is designed to give students
- Comments that point at a line. Not “check your signs”, but which line, what went wrong there, and one thing to do about it.
- Credit for the steps they got right. Partial marks follow the items in the rubric, so a correct method with one slip isn’t marked like a blank page.
- Different valid methods credited. A correct method that isn’t the one in the answer key earns the marks it achieves, and the teacher confirms it.
- The same approved rubric for everyone. Every paper in the class set is marked against the rubric the teacher approved, and the teacher reviews the results.
- A next step they can act on. Each sheet ends with what went well and what to work on next.
Limits
What a marked quiz can’t tell you
A marked quiz shows what a student wrote on one day. It doesn’t show everything they understand, and it doesn’t replace the conversation in class. Use it to decide what to look at next, not as a verdict on a student’s ability.
MarkScanner’s drafts can also be wrong. It flags work it can’t read clearly and drafts that look doubtful, but an unflagged answer can still need correcting. That’s why the teacher’s review is part of the workflow, not an extra.
How it’s built
AI drafts. The teacher decides. Nothing returns to a student until a person has signed off.
- Work it can’t read clearly is flagged for review, not silently guessed.
- Student work is not used to train AI models, and it’s stored in Canada.
- The teacher can edit any comment or mark before it leaves MarkScanner.
- Class results stay in your account, downloadable as CSV, and are never sold.
Looking at MarkScanner for a department? Email us to talk about what an evaluation could look like for your team.
Try it free
Try MarkScanner with your next quiz or test
Use your own account and your own papers. You approve the rubric, review the draft marks, and decide what goes back to students.
Email us and we’ll set up your account and help with your first assessment.
After your trial, $49 CAD/month plus HST per teacher.