Learnosity launches Feedback Aide to tackle teacher turnover crisis, addressing 19% educator exodus in US

• An AI-powered grading assistant that reduces teacher workload and enhances student learning
• Achieves 0.88 Quadratic Weighted Kappa, on par with good human graders
• Provides learning platforms with easy access to AI capabilities via API
• Targets 19% teacher turnover rate and $20,000 cost per new urban hire

Dublin, 1 October 2024 – Learnosity, the global leader in assessment solutions, has announced the release of Feedback Aide, an innovative AI-powered grading assistant designed to reduce teacher workload and elevate student learning outcomes.  

Teachers spend 5 hours a week grading and providing feedback on student work, according to the first annual Merrimack College Teacher Survey. Feedback Aide is an API-based solution that offers edtech companies a cost-effective way to integrate AI-powered essay grading into their learning platforms. This AI-assisted grading tool enables teachers to deliver fast, focused, and personalised feedback on student essays.

If two teachers were to grade the same set of responses, their level of agreement can be expressed as the Quadratic Weighted Kappa (QWK) where a QWK of 0.8 is considered good. In comparing Feedback Aide to a human grader, it achieves a QWK of 0.88 on K20 essays–meaning its accuracy is on par with a good human grader.

Gavin Cooney, Founder and CEO of Learnosity said, “Learnosity leverages API technology to power learning experiences for a movement of global innovators. With this expertise, we can abstract complex AI models into easy-to-use APIs, enabling our customers—learning platforms used by teachers—to access cutting-edge AI capabilities through simple API calls. 

“As teacher workloads reach a breaking point, AI-powered grading offers a solution to the crisis. Acting as a super-powered grading assistant, Feedback Aide frees up teachers to focus on what they do best: teaching. Ultimately, the goal is to help teachers reclaim their time and energy, which in turn improves the learning experience for students.”

In the wake of the pandemic, teacher turnover has surged to 11-19% across most U.S. states, with each new urban district hire costing an estimated $20,000 according to the National Education Institute. In New York City alone, with approximately 75,000 teachers, the annual cost of replacing educators reaches a staggering $220 million. 

Learnosity, which serves over 40 million users globally, was recently ranked 16th on TIME Magazine’s inaugural list of the World’s Top EdTech Companies, recognizing the top 250 leading forces in the edtech industry.