Using GradeLamp Within School and College Application Rules

Feedback, never ghost-writing

Think of GradeLamp as a strict second reader. It tells you which rubric rows your draft earns, shows you the exact sentences behind each score, and names the one change that would help most. The writing, and every decision about it, stays with you.

GradeLamp has no rewrite button, no “improve this paragraph”, no paraphraser and no “humanizer”, and we won't add them at any price. That's a permanent product rule, not a setting.

What happens if you ask it to write for you

It refuses, in three ways:

• Instructions inside an essay are ignored. If an essay contains something like “rewrite my intro”, the grader treats it as part of the text to assess, and the result says “We ignored text that looked like instructions to the grader.”
• Fixes are instructions, not wording. A fix says what to change and where, such as “Name the decision you made and what it cost you”. It never hands you a thesis, a topic sentence or a replacement line about your topic.
• Our code checks every fix. Before you see it, code rejects any fix that quotes words not in your essay, offers sample wording (“Try:”, “For example:”, “You could write”), or closely rewords one of your sentences. A rejected fix is asked for once more, then dropped.

Why there is no AI detector

GradeLamp doesn't tell you, or anyone else, whether writing “sounds like AI”, and it never will.

• Detectors get it wrong. They can flag honest writing, especially from students writing in a second language or in a plain, careful style. A false flag can follow a student for a long time.
• It isn't a call software should make. Deciding whether work breaks an integrity policy belongs to a teacher or school, with the student in the room.
• Our feedback stays about the writing. Comments never mention AI, detectors or whether writing is “authentic”. A future check that points out vague, generic-sounding lines is about making them specific, not about who wrote them.

For students: using it within your school's rules

1. Check the policy first. Rules differ by school, class and assignment. Some teachers welcome AI feedback, some allow it only on drafts, and some ban any AI use. If it isn't written down, ask.
2. Say how you used it when asked. A line like “I used GradeLamp, an AI feedback tool, to get rubric comments on my draft. All the writing is my own.” is usually enough.
3. Keep your drafts. Your document's version history is the best evidence that the work is yours.GradeLamp never edits your document, so your history stays clean.
4. Paste only what you're allowed to. Don't paste a test or exam question your teacher asked you to keep private.
5. Treat the score as a practice estimate. It isn't your teacher's grade. If a score looks wrong, use “Question this score” and trust your teacher's judgment.

For college applications

The Common App®'s fraud policy covers submitting the substantive content or output of an AI tool as your own work, and individual colleges may set stricter rules. Read the current policy on the Common App website and check each college's own guidance before you submit.

GradeLamp is designed to sit on the right side of those rules: it gives the kind of comments a teacher or counselor might write in the margin, and the essay you submit is entirely your writing. Our readiness verdict (“Not ready yet”, “Getting there”, “Ready after a polish”) is about the draft against our rubric. It says nothing about your chances of admission, and colleges don't score essays on our scale.

For teachers

• Set a clear class policy. Say whether AI feedback is allowed, on which drafts, and how students should mention it. You're welcome to link students to this page.
• Use it as a first pass. AI grading should support your judgment, not replace it. Review every row score and comment, and change anything you disagree with.
• Tell students when AI was involved. Feedback that leaves GradeLamp's teacher tools will end with “Feedback drafted with AI and reviewed by your teacher.”

Our tools for teachers open on 22 January 2027. They won't release anything to students automatically: every flagged row needs your decision before an essay can be marked reviewed.

For parents and counselors

The most useful thing you can do is read the feedback with the student and ask what they plan to change. The fixes point at specific rows and sentences, so they make a good starting point for a conversation that keeps the student in charge of their own words. The result page can be printed or saved as a PDF to share.

Report misuse

If you see GradeLamp being used or advertised to write essays for students, or you find feedback that hands over replacement wording, please email support@gradelamp.com. We take every report seriously and fix what we find.