I’ve been on summer break for about a month now, and have enjoyed thinking of pretty much anything other than academics. But tonight I thought about the upcoming year and new group of students, and my mind started taking inventory of all the things that are needed to begin a new school year. One that I always dread is grading.

There are several common options for choosing a gradebook – all with major flaws. The most traditional teacher still has a pencil and paper gradebook. This is clumsy and can get quite messy. Others create spreadsheets using Excel (instructions how to do this are here), but since Excel was not specifically designed for this task, it can sometimes be a square peg in a round hole. There are also excellent grading programs available, if your pockets are deep enough.

But alas, there’s a new option. Engrade is a free online grading application. And it has me excited about record keeping. It has countless options, for teacher, parents, and students. Check out the video demo, here.