Dean's Brief 2 · Monday, September 14, 2026
Can Faculty Grade with AI?
The decision: Yes, with two conditions a dean can state in one breath: a human decides the grade, and the tool is one the university has vetted. Anything looser invites a complaint; anything stricter will be ignored.
What is happening
Faculty are already pasting student work into AI for feedback, rubric drafting, and first-pass scoring. Some tell students; most do not. The question reached the AI in Education listserv in late September 2026, and the most useful answer came from Texas: UT Austin's guidance says state law bars AI from being "a controlling factor" in consequential decisions without human review, lists grading as one, and requires that FERPA-protected work go only into university-authorized tools. That is a workable standard for any campus.
One legal note worth knowing: under Owasso v. Falvo (2002), student work is not an education record under FERPA until the instructor records a grade. So AI-assisted feedback before grading is not a FERPA problem by itself. The privacy question is about the vendor's data terms, which is why the vetted-tool condition matters more than the de-identification question.
Three moves
- Name the two conditions in writing. "AI may assist with feedback and first-pass scoring. The instructor decides every grade. Only tools on the approved list may receive student work." Put it under the campus policy sentence.
- Settle the Turnitin question honestly. Most campuses already send every paper, names attached, to a vendor that keeps copies. The difference is the contract. Say so, and apply the same test to any AI grading tool: data agreement, no training on student work, deletion on request.
- Protect the relational part. Grading is where students learn that someone read their work. Ask faculty to keep one thing human on every assignment: the final comment, the grade decision, or a conference. Tell students which.
What to say
To faculty: "Use it to read faster, not to decide for you. Tell students you use it." To students: "A person decides your grade. A tool may help them get to it."
Monday step
Ask IT for the list of AI tools with a signed data agreement. If the list is empty, that is the real policy problem, not the faculty member using ChatGPT.
Source: AI in Education listserv thread, Sept. 29, 2026; UT Austin Provost's AI toolkit; Owasso Independent School District v. Falvo, 534 U.S. 426 (2002).