Set & update grades

This guide provides grading-related code examples for the Google Classroom API. Read the Grades guide to familiarize yourself with grading concepts in Classroom.

Set grades for student submissions

The StudentSubmission resource has two fields to store grades: assignedGrade, which is the grade reported to students, and draftGrade, which is a tentative grade visible only to teachers. These fields are updated using courses.courseWork.studentSubmissions.patch.

Python

studentSubmission = {
  'assignedGrade': 99,
  'draftGrade': 80
}

service.courses().courseWork().studentSubmissions().patch(
    courseId=course_id,
    courseWorkId=coursework_id,
    id=studentsubmission_id,
    updateMask='assignedGrade,draftGrade',
    body=studentSubmission).execute()

Java

classroom/snippets/src/main/java/PatchStudentSubmission.java
StudentSubmission studentSubmission = null;
try {
  // Updating the draftGrade and assignedGrade fields for the specific student submission.
  StudentSubmission content =
      service
          .courses()
          .courseWork()
          .studentSubmissions()
          .get(courseId, courseWorkId, id)
          .execute();
  content.setAssignedGrade(90.00);
  content.setDraftGrade(80.00);

  // The updated studentSubmission object is returned with the new draftGrade and assignedGrade.
  studentSubmission =
      service
          .courses()
          .courseWork()
          .studentSubmissions()
          .patch(courseId, courseWorkId, id, content)
          .set("updateMask", "draftGrade,assignedGrade")
          .execute();

  /* Prints the updated student submission. */
  System.out.printf(
      "Updated student submission draft grade (%s) and assigned grade (%s).\n",
      studentSubmission.getDraftGrade(), studentSubmission.getAssignedGrade());
} catch (GoogleJsonResponseException e) {
  // TODO (developer) - handle error appropriately
  GoogleJsonError error = e.getDetails();
  if (error.getCode() == 404) {
    System.out.printf(
        "The courseId (%s), courseWorkId (%s), or studentSubmissionId (%s) does "
            + "not exist.\n",
        courseId, courseWorkId, id);
  } else {
    throw e;
  }
} catch (Exception e) {
  throw e;
}
return studentSubmission;

When working with the Classroom UI, teachers can't assign a grade until they have first saved a draft grade. The assigned grade can then be returned to a student. Your application can grade a student's assignment in one of two ways:

  • Assign just the draftGrade. This is useful, for example, to let the teacher manually review grades before finalizing them. Students cannot see draft grades.

  • Assign both the draftGrade and assignedGrade to fully grade an assignment.

Read assigned grades

You can list all grades for a particular coursework item by exploring the courses.courseWork.studentSubmissions.list method's response object:

Python

response = coursework.studentSubmissions().list(
    courseId=course_id,
    courseWorkId=coursework_id,
    pageSize=10 # optionally include `pageSize` to restrict the number of student submissions included in the response.
).execute()
submissions.extend(response.get('studentSubmissions', []))

if not submissions:
    print('No student submissions found.')

print('Student Submissions:')

for submission in submissions:
    print(f"Submitted at:"
          f"{(submission.get('userId'), submission.get('assignedGrade'))}")

Java

classroom/snippets/src/main/java/ListStudentSubmissions.java
  ListStudentSubmissionsResponse response =
      service
          .courses()
          .courseWork()
          .studentSubmissions()
          .list(courseId, courseWorkId)
          .setPageToken(pageToken)
          .execute();

  /* Ensure that the response is not null before retrieving data from it to avoid errors. */
  if (response.getStudentSubmissions() != null) {
    studentSubmissions.addAll(response.getStudentSubmissions());
    pageToken = response.getNextPageToken();
  }
} while (pageToken != null);

if (studentSubmissions.isEmpty()) {
  System.out.println("No student submissions found.");
} else {
  for (StudentSubmission submission : studentSubmissions) {
    System.out.printf(
        "User ID %s, Assigned grade: %s\n",
        submission.getUserId(), submission.getAssignedGrade());
  }
}

Determine overall course grades

The Classroom API doesn't allow developers to read or write the overall course grade, but you can programmatically calculate it. The Set up grading help center article provides tips on this calculation. The Course resource includes the gradebookSettings field that can help you perform the calculations.

If you'd like to calculate the overall grade, read through some pointers to be aware of when managing late, excused, and missing coursework.

Manage student response state

A student response may be unsubmitted, turned in, or returned. The state field in StudentSubmission indicates the current state. To change the state, call one of the following methods:

All of these methods accept an empty body parameter, for example:

Python

service.courses().courseWork().studentSubmission().turnIn(
    courseId=course_id,
    courseWorkId=coursework_id,
    id=studentsubmission_id,
    body={}).execute()

Java

classroom/snippets/src/main/java/ReturnStudentSubmission.java
try {
  service
      .courses()
      .courseWork()
      .studentSubmissions()
      .classroomReturn(courseId, courseWorkId, id, null)
      .execute();
} catch (GoogleJsonResponseException e) {
  // TODO (developer) - handle error appropriately
  GoogleJsonError error = e.getDetails();
  if (error.getCode() == 404) {
    System.out.printf(
        "The courseId (%s), courseWorkId (%s), or studentSubmissionId (%s) does "
            + "not exist.\n",
        courseId, courseWorkId, id);
  } else {
    throw e;
  }
} catch (Exception e) {
  throw e;
}

Grade add-on attachments

If you're a Classroom add-ons developer, you can set grades for individual add-on attachments and configure the grade to be visible to teachers when they review student work. See the Activity-type attachments and Grade passback walkthroughs for more information.

Next
Grading Periods