Terms of Service

Grade Harbor is a teacher-facing educational technology service that helps teachers review, grade, and provide feedback on student writing.

The Service may include tools for:

• Uploading or entering student writing
• Applying rubrics and grading criteria
• Generating AI-assisted scoring suggestions
• Generating draft feedback
• Reviewing student performance against writing criteria
• Managing grading workflows
• Supporting writing instruction

Grade Harbor is not a student-facing product. Students do not create Grade Harbor accounts, and students should not submit information directly to Grade Harbor.

Grade Harbor does not replace teacher judgment. AI-generated grading, scoring, comments, and feedback are draft suggestions. Teachers remain responsible for reviewing, validating, modifying, and approving all final grades, scores, comments, feedback, and instructional decisions.

The Service is intended for use by teachers, schools, districts, administrators, and other authorized adult educational users.

You may use the Service only if you:

• Represent that you are an adult who is legally able to agree to these Terms;
• Are authorized to use the Service for educational purposes; and
• Will comply with these Terms and all applicable laws, policies, and school or district requirements.

Students may not create accounts or use the Service directly unless Grade Harbor expressly provides a student-facing feature in the future under separate applicable terms and privacy notices.

If you upload, enter, or process student work or student-related information through the Service, you represent and warrant that you have the necessary authority to do so.

If you are a teacher using Grade Harbor outside of a school- or district-approved procurement process, you are responsible for confirming that your use is permitted by your school, district, or educational institution.

You agree not to upload Student Data unless you are authorized to do so and your use is for a legitimate educational purpose.

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials.

You agree to:

• Provide accurate account information;
• Keep your login credentials secure;
• Not share your account credentials with others;
• Not allow unauthorized users to access the Service through your account;
• Promptly notify Grade Harbor of any suspected unauthorized access or security issue; and
• Use the Service only in accordance with these Terms.

You are responsible for activity that occurs under your account, except to the extent caused by Grade Harbor's failure to maintain reasonable security safeguards.

Grade Harbor may suspend or restrict account access if we reasonably believe that an account has been compromised, is being misused, or is being used in violation of these Terms.

You may use the Service only for lawful, authorized, and legitimate educational purposes.

Permitted uses include:

• Reviewing student writing;
• Applying rubrics;
• Generating draft grading suggestions;
• Generating draft teacher feedback;
• Supporting classroom writing instruction;
• Managing teacher grading workflows; and
• Other educational uses authorized by your school or organization.

You may not use the Service to:

• Violate FERPA, COPPA, or other applicable student privacy laws;
• Upload Student Data without authorization;
• Use Student Data for advertising, marketing, or non-educational profiling;
• Sell, rent, sublicense, or commercially resell the Service;
• Copy, modify, reverse engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract the source code of the Service;
• Circumvent usage limits, access controls, or security features;
• Use bots, scrapers, or automated tools to extract data from the Service without authorization;
• Upload malware, malicious code, or harmful content;
• Interfere with or disrupt the Service;
• Use the Service to harass, threaten, or harm others;
• Use the Service for unlawful discrimination or unlawful decision-making;
• Misrepresent AI-generated output as final without teacher review; or
• Use the Service for any purpose unrelated to legitimate educational instruction or authorized school operations.

"Student Data" means student-related information provided to Grade Harbor by or on behalf of a teacher, school, district, or educational institution. Student Data may include student writing, assignment submissions, rubrics, grading information, draft scores, grades, teacher comments, feedback, and related educational records.

Grade Harbor uses Student Data only to provide the Service and for other purposes described in our Privacy Policy or an applicable written agreement with a school or district.

Grade Harbor does not:

• Sell Student Data;
• Rent Student Data;
• Use Student Data for targeted advertising;
• Use Student Data to build non-educational profiles;
• Use Student Data for unrelated commercial purposes; or
• Use Student Data to train generalized AI models without explicit written authorization from the applicable school, district, or authorized educational institution.

Where applicable, Grade Harbor may process Student Data as a school service provider acting on behalf of a school or educational institution.

For Student Data subject to FERPA, Grade Harbor will use such data only for the authorized educational purpose for which it was provided. FERPA permits schools to disclose education records to certain contractors or service providers under the school official exception when applicable requirements are met, including direct control by the school and use limited to the outsourced institutional service or function.

For children under 13, Grade Harbor is designed to rely on school authorization for educational use where permitted by COPPA. COPPA guidance allows schools to provide consent for educational technology use in appropriate circumstances, but that consent does not authorize unrelated commercial uses such as advertising.

Student Data is also governed by our Privacy Policy and, where applicable, any signed data privacy agreement, data processing agreement, school service provider agreement, or similar agreement.

If there is a conflict between these Terms and a signed agreement with a school or district, the signed agreement will control to the extent stated in that agreement or required by applicable law.

The Service uses artificial intelligence to generate draft grading suggestions, draft rubric analysis, draft comments, and draft feedback.

You agree that:

• AI-generated grades, scores, and feedback are suggestions only;
• Teachers are responsible for final grades, scores, comments, and instructional decisions;
• You will review AI-generated content before relying on it;
• You will not represent AI-generated content as final unless it has been reviewed and approved by an authorized teacher or educational professional;
• You will use professional judgment when applying feedback to student work; and
• You will comply with your school's policies regarding AI-assisted tools.

Grade Harbor does not guarantee that AI-generated content will be accurate, complete, appropriate, or error-free.

For purposes of these Terms, "User Content" means content that you upload, enter, submit, or create through the Service, including rubrics, prompts, teacher instructions, uploaded materials, comments, and feedback.

As between you and Grade Harbor:

• You or your school retain ownership of User Content you submit to the Service.
• Student essays and student work remain owned by the applicable student, school, district, or other rights holder.
• Grade Harbor does not claim ownership of Student Data.
• Grade Harbor owns the Service, including its software, design, workflows, features, technology, documentation, trademarks, branding, and underlying intellectual property.

You grant Grade Harbor a limited license to host, process, transmit, display, and use User Content and Student Data solely as necessary to provide, maintain, secure, and support the Service, as described in these Terms, our Privacy Policy, or an applicable written agreement.

You represent that you have the rights and permissions necessary to submit User Content and Student Data to the Service.

If you provide suggestions, ideas, comments, bug reports, feature requests, or other feedback about the Service, you grant Grade Harbor the right to use that feedback without restriction or compensation to you.

This does not give Grade Harbor the right to use Student Data except as described in these Terms, our Privacy Policy, or an applicable written agreement.

Some parts of the Service may require a paid subscription.

By purchasing a paid plan, you agree to pay the fees disclosed at checkout, on the applicable order form, or in another written agreement.

Unless otherwise stated at checkout or in a written agreement:

• Subscription fees are billed in advance;
• Subscriptions may renew automatically;
• You authorize Grade Harbor or its payment processor to charge your payment method for recurring fees;
• You are responsible for keeping payment information accurate and up to date;
• Failure to pay may result in suspension or termination of access; and
• Fees are non-refundable except as required by law or expressly stated by Grade Harbor.

Grade Harbor may change pricing or plan features from time to time. Material pricing changes for existing paid subscriptions will be communicated before they take effect.

If a separate order form, school agreement, district agreement, or procurement document applies, that document may specify additional or different payment terms.

Grade Harbor may offer free trials, pilot programs, beta access, promotional pricing, or limited-use plans.

Grade Harbor may modify, limit, or end free trials, pilots, promotional offers, or beta programs at any time unless otherwise stated in a written agreement.

If a free trial converts to a paid subscription, the applicable pricing and billing terms will be disclosed before charges begin.

Your use of the Service is subject to our Privacy Policy, which explains how Grade Harbor collects, uses, shares, retains, and protects information.

By using the Service, you acknowledge that you have reviewed the Privacy Policy.

For privacy questions, contact:

[email protected]

Grade Harbor retains and deletes data as described in our Privacy Policy and any applicable written agreement. Automated backend processes enforce retention and deletion schedules; manual-only operation is not relied upon for compliance.

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 period after subscription expiration or account inactivity (configurable by the teacher account holder; the platform default is subscription duration plus 12 months) unless deletion is requested earlier.
• Student Data is deleted from active systems upon processing of an account deletion request. Teachers may submit a deletion request at any time via their account settings; deletion is processed automatically by the platform.
• Teacher account data is anonymized or deactivated after account deletion, unless retention is required for legal, tax, billing, security, or compliance purposes.
• Billing records, audit logs, security logs, and backup data may be retained for longer where reasonably necessary for legal, tax, accounting, security, compliance, or operational purposes.

To request deletion, contact:

[email protected]

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

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

However, no technology service can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

You are responsible for:

• Keeping your login credentials confidential;
• Using strong passwords;
• Maintaining the security of your devices;
• Promptly reporting suspected unauthorized access; and
• Following your school or district's security policies.

If you believe your account or Student Data may have been compromised, contact:

[email protected]

Grade Harbor may update, modify, suspend, or discontinue parts of the Service from time to time.

We will make reasonable efforts to maintain the availability and reliability of the Service, but we do not guarantee that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, or available at all times.

We may perform maintenance, updates, or emergency fixes that temporarily affect Service availability.

Grade Harbor may add, remove, or change features as the Service evolves.

The Service may rely on third-party providers for functions such as hosting, infrastructure, AI processing, payment processing, authentication, analytics, email delivery, logging, security, and customer support.

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

Your use of certain third-party features may be subject to additional terms or policies. Grade Harbor is not responsible for third-party services that are not controlled by Grade Harbor.

Grade Harbor may make beta, experimental, preview, or early-access features available from time to time.

Beta features may be incomplete, unstable, or changed before general release. Grade Harbor may modify or discontinue beta features at any time.

Beta features are provided for evaluation and feedback and should not be relied upon for critical educational, legal, compliance, or administrative decisions unless Grade Harbor expressly states otherwise in writing.

The Service is provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Grade Harbor disclaims all warranties, whether express, implied, statutory, or otherwise, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, non-infringement, accuracy, availability, and reliability.

Grade Harbor does not warrant that:

• The Service will be uninterrupted or error-free;
• The Service will meet your specific requirements;
• AI-generated content will be accurate, complete, unbiased, or appropriate;
• The Service will detect every grading issue, writing issue, plagiarism issue, or instructional concern;
• The Service will comply with every school, district, or state-specific requirement unless expressly stated in a written agreement; or
• Any particular educational, instructional, grading, or business outcome will be achieved.

You are responsible for reviewing AI-generated content and using professional judgment before relying on Service outputs.

Some jurisdictions do not allow certain warranty disclaimers, so some of the above disclaimers may not apply to you.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Grade Harbor and its owners, officers, employees, contractors, agents, affiliates, and service providers will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, consequential, special, exemplary, or punitive damages, including lost profits, lost revenue, lost data, business interruption, reputational harm, or loss of goodwill.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Grade Harbor's total liability for any claim arising out of or relating to the Service or these Terms will not exceed the greater of:

• The amount you paid to Grade Harbor for the Service during the 12 months before the event giving rise to the claim; or
• $100.

These limitations apply regardless of the legal theory, whether based on contract, tort, negligence, strict liability, warranty, statute, or otherwise, even if Grade Harbor has been advised of the possibility of damages.

Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations of liability, so some of these limitations may not apply to you.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, you agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Grade Harbor and its owners, officers, employees, contractors, agents, affiliates, and service providers from and against claims, damages, liabilities, losses, costs, and expenses, including reasonable attorneys' fees, arising out of or relating to:

• Your misuse of the Service;
• Your violation of these Terms;
• Your violation of applicable law;
• Your unauthorized submission or use of Student Data;
• Your User Content;
• Your violation of another person's rights; or
• Your use of AI-generated content without appropriate review.

This section does not require you to indemnify Grade Harbor for Grade Harbor's own unlawful conduct, gross negligence, or willful misconduct.

If you are using the Service on behalf of a public school, district, or government entity, this section applies only to the extent permitted by applicable law.

You may stop using the Service at any time.

Grade Harbor may suspend or terminate your access to the Service if:

• You violate these Terms;
• You fail to pay applicable fees;
• Your account presents a security risk;
• Your use creates legal, security, privacy, or operational risk;
• We are required to do so by law; or
• We discontinue the Service.

Upon termination, your right to access and use the Service will end.

Data retention and deletion after termination will be handled as described in the Privacy Policy and any applicable written agreement.

Sections that by their nature should survive termination will survive, including sections related to Student Data, intellectual property, payment obligations, disclaimers, limitation of liability, indemnification, governing law, and dispute resolution.

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas, without regard to conflict of law principles.

Unless otherwise required by law or stated in a written agreement, disputes arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service will be brought in the state or federal courts located in Texas, and you consent to the jurisdiction of those courts.

If you are a public school, district, government entity, or other organization subject to mandatory venue or governing law requirements, this section applies only to the extent permitted by applicable law.

Grade Harbor may update these Terms from time to time.

If we make material changes, 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.

Your continued use of the Service after updated Terms take effect means you accept the updated Terms.

The "Last updated" date at the top of these Terms indicates when they were last revised.

For legal questions, notices, or questions about these Terms, contact:

Grade Harbor LLC
Email: [email protected]