The No-Paperwork Theorem: Can AI grading happen without anyone leaving Canvas?
The No-Paperwork Theorem: Can AI grading happen without anyone leaving Canvas?
At Pacific Collegiate School, math department chair Randy Garrett wanted AI-assisted grading that respected his standards without adding another layer of work.
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- Students:
- 514
- Location:
- Santa Cruz, California
- Using Ed.ai since:
- August 2026
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Context
Pacific Collegiate School sits in Santa Cruz, California, in a coastal community with a strong appetite for progress. Its students achieve excellent academic results, and the school is ranked among California's top high schools, currently at #8.
Randy Garrett has been teaching advanced math in addition to chairing the math department at the school for 22 years. His idea of teaching involves helping students in his multivariable class build ambitious projects, more generally, spending time with the human beings in the building.
When assessing whether students can factor polynomials using the fundamental theorem of algebra, Randy wants an AI grading tool that follows his standards, including in demanding classes such as AP Calculus, Multivariable Calculus, and AP Statistics.
He was also on the lookout for a tool to give more individualized feedback to his 120 students than he or his team could humanly manage on their own. That is his sci-fi vision for AI.
So Ed.ai took on the challenge of becoming a math C-3PO. A very discreet C-3PO.
Because while Randy can teach many theorems, he hasn't found one yet: the no-paperwork theorem.
No friction, no extra layers. That's what he's looking for, both for himself and his department. A 10-week pilot began with the ambition of making that happen.
Implementation
Pacific Collegiate School first crossed paths with Ed.ai in 2025, after Ed.ai's CEO began exchanging ideas with Randy. They shared a common vision of what AI should be, one that would become a collaborative experience.
The non-negotiable was matching the school's standards and following the pace of its summative assessments. At PCS, which moved away from the economy of points nine years ago for most exams, students demonstrate mastery, practice, and reassess.
Randy's first trials of AI-assisted grading for his advanced-level exams were very encouraging and training sessions were organized with his department the following summer.
The challenge was that he wasn't convinced by the workflow. The school used Canvas as its LMS, and the early versions of the integration allowed teachers to log in to Ed.ai through Canvas using a third party. But teachers still had to open Ed.ai separately to grade and review papers before sending the results back to Canvas.
As for getting papers onto the platform, Randy tried scanning them for upload. But taking on that manual workload wasn't what he wanted. If anything, he'd rather have his students do it, teaching them how to navigate technical systems along the way.
Pacific Collegiate School challenged Ed.ai to build a deeper integration with Canvas, with easy import options that would allow students to upload their own work. Why not imagine a world where both teachers and students would never leave Canvas?
After regular feedback sessions, the team developed the Ed.ai app in Canvas, with an entry in the course menu and a more flexible import workflow. Students could submit their work through the LMS, while teachers could import submissions into Ed.ai, grade and review them in an embedded view, and send the results back to Canvas.
It was a significant step toward Randy's vision.
How a pilot works
Unlimited use throughout the 10 weeks. No caps on teachers, classes, or papers.
- Week 1KickoffAccess opens & teacher training for AI grading.
- Week 3Feedback sessionFirst look at AI grading results, teacher training on insights & reteaching.
- Week 5Midpoint reviewUsage & early impact review with the pilot lead and a school representative.
- Week 10Final review & next stepsResults summary & rollout plan with leadership.
What We Built Together
Ed.ai is now a Canvas app, with its own entry in the course menu, allowing teachers to work in an embedded view.
Importing papers is more flexible and straightforward. The import screen has search and filters, and Google Docs submissions can be imported directly.
Teachers can send grades and release papers from the Ed.ai view back to Canvas where they appear in the gradebook, with a link to the graded paper and a possible review into SpeedGrader. The grading display also has a pass/fail option.
Early Results
So far, PCS math teachers have graded 197 papers with Ed.ai, generated 53 worksheets, tests and other materials, and held 23 conversations with Ed, our AI assistant.
The Ed.ai view inside the Canvas assignment page is now live: from submission to feedback, teachers and students can stay in Canvas. The pilot has been extended so the department can put that workflow to the test. Next on our roadmap are rubric editing with AI and automatic release of homework feedback.
Randy himself found another use for the platform: generating quizzes, a task that allowed him to save precious minutes.
Being able to generate standards assessments more or less with drag and drop and a click of a button is very useful to me. I used to sit and write all of these out myself. The time it takes me to do that has shrunk from about twenty minutes to about five.
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That's time he can reallocate to preparing his courses, working with students and other members of the school community, and, perhaps, his family.
All AI is doing is letting me be more present with my students. That's all I'm looking for.
Built for Math. Trusted by Math Teachers.
Built for Math. Trusted by Math Teachers.
Join thousands of high school math educators who’ve cut grading time by 80% without sacrificing feedback quality.
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