A large union survey of more than twelve thousand teachers recently found that most teachers work well beyond their contracted hours, and that only a small fraction say all of their assessment-related work is counted in their working time agreement. About six in ten said that only some of it is counted. The finding has prompted calls for urgent action on workload, and it reflects a concern echoed in many school districts: grading is real work that often goes unmeasured. Documenting it is the first step toward managing it.

Other surveys point in the same direction. One recent national study found that teachers spend nearly ten hours a week on grading, and that more than half said their grading load had increased in the past year. A district survey in the Midwest found only about half of teachers believed their workload was reasonable. These numbers matter for retention, since a notable share of teachers say grading has made them consider leaving the profession.

For department heads and union representatives, the challenge is that grading workload is nearly invisible in schedules and contracts. Agreements specify instructional minutes and planning periods but rarely account for the evenings and weekends spent reading essays and writing comments. Without data, conversations about fair workload rely on anecdotes, and anecdotes are easy for decision makers to set aside when budgets are tight or schedules are already full.

Measure the real hours first

Ask teachers in your building to log grading time for two weeks, broken down by assignment type, number of papers, and minutes per paper. Anonymized totals show how workload varies by subject and course load, and they reveal the outliers whose load is unsustainable. English and social studies teachers who assign frequent essays will often show the highest numbers, which gives the department a strong, specific case to bring forward.

• Log grading hours for two weeks, separating essays from quizzes and homework.
• Record the number of students and the number of written assignments per course.
• Note the average minutes per essay for reading, scoring, and comments.
• Compare totals across departments and course loads to find the heaviest areas.
• Present anonymized results to administrators with a specific request for change.

Practical ways to reduce assessment hours

Several reductions require no new money. Departments can agree on shared rubrics so that each teacher does not design their own, limit the number of criteria on routine assignments, and adopt feedback approaches such as scoring one or two focus criteria per essay. Staggering due dates across sections prevents the pileups that produce the worst weekends, and it costs nothing but a conversation among the teachers who share students.

Technology can contribute when it is introduced with teacher agreement and clear oversight. A rubric-based tool that drafts first-pass scores and comments, which the teacher reviews and edits, targets the most time-consuming mechanical work while leaving professional judgment in place. In one national survey, three-quarters of teachers said they would be open to AI help if it could cut their grading workload in half.

Negotiate guardrails along with efficiency

Any efficiency tool should come with protections that teachers can trust. Agreements might specify that teachers choose whether to use AI assistance, that every grade is reviewed and approved by the teacher, that student data protections are documented, and that time saved is not simply replaced by additional duties. Without the last guarantee, savings can quietly disappear into new responsibilities, and teachers will conclude the tool made no difference.

Involve teachers in selecting and piloting tools so that their practical concerns shape the decision from the beginning. A pilot with a small group, with clear measures of time saved and feedback quality, produces evidence that can inform later agreements and budget requests. This approach respects professional expertise and avoids imposing tools that the people using them every day have never had a chance to test.

Keep the conversation going

Workload agreements are most effective when they are revisited regularly, with fresh data rather than memories of last year. A yearly grading-hours survey, shared with both administration and staff, shows whether changes are working and where new pressures have appeared. It also keeps the issue visible during budget and scheduling discussions, when decisions about class size, course loads, and preparation periods are actually made.

Celebrate improvements when they happen and share the specific practices that produced them, whether that was a shared rubric, staggered deadlines, or a new grading workflow. When teachers see that documenting workload leads to real change, they are more willing to participate in future surveys and pilots. That trust is the foundation for keeping grading demands sustainable over the long term and for retaining the experienced teachers a school depends on.