I think it would be beneficial to grade a few of the papers together to establish some common understandings. Perhaps, you could talk through one together. After that, you could each grade a few and compare the papers and results. This would take quite a bit of time up front, but it may prove to be beneficial (and may even save time) in the long run.

There should be a conversation between yourself and the co-teacher. It should be understood that the rubric was given so there would be consistent grading for each student. I would suggest creating rubrics in the future with the co-teacher, so he or she will know how to implement them and compose them. Many times, people are just ignorant to certain things much rather than negligent. I do feel, however, there should be two rubrics. One for regular ed students and a modified rubric for exceptional students.

In this situation, it would have been best to discuss the grading with the co-teacher before handing them back to students and recording the grades in the grade book. If the students were expecting their essays to be graded by a rubric, it is unfair that some classes were graded this way and some were not. It sounds like it is time to have an open and honest discussion with your co-teacher about grading. This can be a time for both of you to bring up and work out any concerns that either of you have.

I would have an open conversation with the co-teacher about m y expectations for the class and for the grading standards. Also, I would give the co-teacher a grading rubric, or an example paper to grade by. This would give the co-teacher the an idea of how your expectations should appear in written form.

Grading should be by a rubric. You should even offer to grade a couple essays with the co-teacher to make sure there is consistency in how the papers are being graded. Just like you have to demonstrate high expectations for students, you must let your co-teacher know that you have high expectations in grading.

The co-teacher may not know how to read and apply the points for the rubric,therefore, I would provide her with some training on how to understand the rubric and how to apply the points of the rubric to the students work. Having your co-teacher assist you in grading can be a huge help to you. It's just a matter of making sure that she understands how to effectively grade student work using the tools that you have opted to use.

When there are two teachers grading, it would be best to discuss any gray areas. The rubric should be used for the classes. If the co-teacher decided to deviate from the rubric, there should have been one modified and shown to the other teacher. The co-teacher should grade the students in special education with her rubric. If she had an issue with the one that was made, she should have made modifications and included it with her lesson plans. There at this point should not be a grade given for the essay but just feedback on errors because of the inconsistency in grading with the rubric.

Before allowing the teacher to help me, which by the way is awesome, I would make sure that we graded a few papers together, using the rubric in order to establish a baseline. I would make sure that we both understand that we have to follow the rubric to the letter. Grading essays is very subjective, so it is important to establish a fair and consistent baseline for grading. After the fact, which is when the case occurs, I would sit down with the co-teacher and have a conversation about how I think I graded harder than her. I would make it about me, not her, and make sure that she understands how much I appreciate her help. I would point out the discrepancy in grading for next time and explain to her that the students are noticing the difference as well. I would suggest revisiting the rubric together to clear up any differences in grading that we may have and then I would offer to re-grade those tests to make sure all students received fair grades. It's all about communication.

I think it would helpful to both teachers if they first read through and analyzed the rubric. When both teachers share the same understanding of the expectations, they will be more on the same page. It would also be helpful for the co-teacher if the regular-ed teacher shared student work samples for each component of the rubric, so the co-teacher has a visual of what is expected from students. Then, the two teachers could grade the same essay together, share their feedback, and discuss the similarities and differences. Of course finally, the teachers should decide together what they are looking for and how they will grade from then on out.

I would talk to the co-teacher to get her explanation of how she graded and why. Then I would make sure that they understand the rubric and that the rubric helped to offer fairness to all students. Also, I'd offer to let her make the rubric next time or modify it if they felt it was lacking in certain areas.