Privacy Policy

We may collect the following categories of information.

Account Information

We may collect information about teachers, administrators, and other adult users, including:

• Name
• Email address
• School or organization name
• Role or account type
• Account settings
• Subscription status
• Login and authentication information

Student Data

We collect student-related information only when it is submitted to or processed through the Service by teachers, schools, districts, or other authorized users.

Student Data may include:

• Student writing or essay text
• Assignment prompts
• Rubrics
• Teacher instructions
• Draft scores
• Grades
• AI-generated feedback
• Teacher feedback
• Class, course, or assignment information
• Other information included in uploaded or entered educational materials

Teachers and schools should avoid including student names, student ID numbers, or other direct student identifiers unless necessary for the educational purpose of using the Service.

Usage Data

We may collect information about how users interact with the Service, including:

• Features used
• Session activity
• Workflow activity
• Product performance information
• Error and diagnostic information

Technical and Security Data

We may collect technical information needed to operate, secure, monitor, and improve the Service, including:

• IP address
• Browser type
• Device information
• Login activity
• Authentication events
• Security logs
• System logs
• Error logs

We use this information for security, fraud prevention, debugging, audit logging, service reliability, and compliance purposes.

Payment Information

If you purchase a paid subscription, payment information is processed by our payment provider. Grade Harbor does not store full payment card numbers.

Payment-related information may include:

• Billing name
• Billing email
• Subscription plan
• Payment status
• Transaction records
• Limited payment identifiers provided by our payment processor

Grade Harbor does not intentionally collect:

• Student email addresses
• Student phone numbers
• Student account passwords
• Student photos
• Precise student location data
• Student Social Security numbers
• Student payment information
• Biometric identifiers
• Information for advertising purposes

Because student writing and teacher-uploaded materials may contain free-form text, those materials may accidentally include personal or sensitive information that Grade Harbor did not request. Teachers and schools should avoid uploading unnecessary personal information.

We use information to:

• Provide the Service
• Process essays, assignments, rubrics, and teacher instructions
• Generate AI-assisted grading suggestions and feedback
• Save account settings and user preferences
• Provide customer support
• Maintain, secure, and improve the Service
• Debug errors and monitor product performance
• Prevent fraud, abuse, and unauthorized access
• Communicate with teachers and account holders
• Manage billing and subscriptions
• Comply with legal obligations

We use Student Data only to provide the educational Service requested by the teacher, school, district, or authorized educational institution.

We do not use Student Data to:

• Sell data
• Rent data
• Serve targeted advertising
• Build advertising profiles
• Create non-educational student profiles
• Train generalized AI models without explicit written authorization from the applicable school, district, or authorized educational institution

Student Data receives special protections.

Grade Harbor will not:

• Sell Student Data
• Rent Student Data
• Use Student Data for targeted advertising
• Use Student Data to build non-educational profiles
• Disclose Student Data except as described in this Privacy Policy, in an applicable school agreement, or as required by law
• Use Student Data to train generalized AI models without explicit written authorization from the applicable school, district, or authorized educational institution

Where required, Grade Harbor will process Student Data under a data processing agreement, school service provider agreement, student data privacy agreement, or similar written agreement.

If there is a conflict between this Privacy Policy and a signed agreement with a school or district, the signed agreement will control to the extent required by law or expressly stated in that agreement.

Grade Harbor may receive or process information that is considered an education record under FERPA when such information is provided by or on behalf of a school, district, teacher, or other authorized educational representative.

For Student Data subject to FERPA, Grade Harbor acts on behalf of the school or educational institution and processes that data only for authorized educational purposes.

Grade Harbor will:

• Use Student Data only to provide the Service
• Maintain reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards
• Limit access to personnel and service providers with a legitimate need to access the data
• Not re-disclose Student Data except as permitted by the applicable agreement or law
• Delete or return Student Data as required by the applicable agreement or school instruction

Requests by parents, eligible students, or guardians to access, correct, or delete Student Data should be directed to the applicable school or educational institution. Grade Harbor will assist the school or district in responding to such requests as required by applicable law and contract.

Grade Harbor is a teacher-facing educational tool. Students do not create accounts with Grade Harbor, and Grade Harbor does not knowingly collect personal information directly from children under 13.

When the Service is used with information about students under 13, Grade Harbor relies on the teacher, school, district, or authorized educational institution to provide any required authorization or consent for the educational use of the Service.

Grade Harbor uses student information only for school-authorized educational purposes and not for advertising or unrelated commercial purposes.

If we learn that a child has submitted personal information directly to Grade Harbor without appropriate authorization, we will take reasonable steps to delete that information or coordinate with the applicable school or parent as appropriate.

Grade Harbor uses AI technology to help teachers review, grade, and provide feedback on student writing.

To provide AI-assisted grading and feedback, Grade Harbor may process:

• Essay text
• Assignment prompts
• Rubrics
• Teacher instructions
• Draft scores
• Draft feedback
• Related educational context provided by the teacher or school

Grade Harbor is designed to avoid sending unnecessary direct student identifiers to AI providers. Teachers should avoid including student names, student ID numbers, or other direct identifiers unless necessary for the educational purpose.

Grade Harbor does not use Student Data to train generalized AI models without explicit written authorization from the applicable school, district, or authorized educational institution.

Grade Harbor does not sell personal information or Student Data.

We may share information with the following categories of recipients.

Service Providers

We may use trusted third-party service providers to help us operate, secure, and support the Service. These providers may support functions such as:

• Application hosting
• Cloud infrastructure
• AI processing
• Payment processing
• Authentication
• Security monitoring
• Error logging
• Customer support
• Email delivery
• Analytics for product reliability and usage

Service providers are permitted to process information only as needed to provide services to Grade Harbor and must protect the information in accordance with applicable contractual obligations.

Grade Harbor does not authorize service providers to use Student Data for advertising, resale, or unrelated commercial purposes.

A current list of relevant service providers may be made available to schools or districts upon request or as required by an applicable agreement.

Schools and Authorized Administrators

We may share Student Data and account-related information with the applicable school, district, administrator, or authorized educational representative.

Legal and Compliance Disclosures

We may disclose information if required by law, subpoena, court order, government request, or other legal process.

We may also disclose information when we believe it is reasonably necessary to:

• Protect the security of the Service
• Prevent fraud or abuse
• Enforce our agreements
• Protect the rights, safety, or property of Grade Harbor, users, schools, students, or others

Business Transfers

If Grade Harbor is involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganization, sale of assets, or similar transaction, information may be transferred as part of that transaction, subject to appropriate confidentiality and data protection obligations.

Student Data will remain subject to applicable school agreements, data privacy agreements, and legal restrictions.

We retain information only for as long as reasonably necessary to provide the Service, comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, enforce agreements, maintain security, and support legitimate educational or business purposes. Retention and deletion schedules are enforced by automated backend processes.

Unless a school agreement states otherwise:

• Active account data is retained for the duration of the subscription or active account.
• Student Data may be retained for a configurable period after subscription expiration or account inactivity (teacher-configured or platform default: subscription duration plus 12 months), unless deletion is requested earlier.
• Student Data is deleted from active systems upon automated processing of an account deletion request. Teachers may submit a deletion request at any time via their account settings.
• Teacher account data is anonymized or deactivated after account deletion, unless retention is required for legal, tax, billing, security, or compliance purposes.
• Billing and transaction records may be retained as required by tax, accounting, payment processing, or legal obligations.
• Audit and security logs may be retained for up to 3 years for security, compliance, and investigation purposes.
• Deleted information may remain in encrypted backups for a limited period until those backups are overwritten or deleted in the ordinary course of business.
• Grade Harbor may retain de-identified or aggregated data that does not reasonably identify an individual student, teacher, school account, or household.

Schools and districts may request deletion or return of Student Data as required by their agreement with Grade Harbor.

Teachers and account holders may request to:

• Access their account information
• Correct inaccurate account information
• Delete their account
• Update communication preferences
• Request export or deletion of school-controlled data, where authorized

For Student Data, parents, guardians, and eligible students should contact the applicable school or educational institution. Because Grade Harbor processes Student Data on behalf of the school, we respond to Student Data requests under the school's instruction.

To submit a privacy request, contact us at [email protected].

We may need to verify your identity and authority before fulfilling a request.

Grade Harbor uses reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards designed to protect information from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, alteration, or destruction.

These safeguards may include:

• Encryption in transit using TLS
• Encryption at rest where supported by our infrastructure providers
• Access controls
• Authentication requirements
• Least-privilege access
• Logging and monitoring
• Vendor review
• Security reviews
• Backup and recovery procedures
• Incident response procedures

No system can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. Users are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of their login credentials and for using the Service in accordance with applicable school policies.

Security Incidents

If Grade Harbor becomes aware of a security incident involving Student Data or personal information, we will investigate, take reasonable steps to mitigate the incident, and notify affected customers, schools, or account holders without unreasonable delay.

Where required by law, contract, or applicable data privacy agreement, Grade Harbor will provide notice within the required timeframe, including within 72 hours where such a timeframe applies.

Grade Harbor does not use Student Data for advertising.

Grade Harbor does not:

• Serve targeted advertising to students
• Use Student Data to target advertising to students, parents, or teachers
• Sell Student Data
• Share Student Data with advertising networks
• Build advertising profiles from Student Data

Grade Harbor is operated from the United States and is currently designed for use by schools, teachers, and account holders in the United States.

If you access the Service from outside the United States, you understand that information may be processed and stored in the United States, where privacy laws may differ from those in your jurisdiction.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time.

If we make material changes to this Privacy Policy, we will notify account holders by email or through the Service at least 30 days before the changes take effect, unless a shorter period is required for legal, security, or operational reasons.

We will not materially reduce protections for Student Data without appropriate notice and, where required, school or district authorization.

The “Last updated” date at the top of this Privacy Policy indicates when it was last revised.

For privacy questions, data requests, or questions about this Privacy Policy, contact:

Grade Harbor LLC
Email: [email protected]

For FERPA-specific requests involving Student Data, please contact your school administrator or educational institution first. Grade Harbor will assist the school or district as required by applicable law and contract.