Why is Canvas not calculating my rubric grades

Grading and Feedback 26 March 2026

Canvas can automatically calculate and transfer rubric grades to the Grades screen when the correct setting is enabled. This guide explains what to do if you have used a rubric for grading and Canvas has not automatically calculated the rubric score.

A common issue when grading with rubrics is that the grade does not appear in the grade box, even after selecting all criteria in the rubric (as shown in the screenshot below).

This can happen because Canvas does not automatically prompt you to check rubric settings when adding a rubric. Therefore, it is easy to miss enabling the rubric setting required to auto calculate your grade. You can still select criteria and provide feedback, using the rubric but the total grade will not calculate or transfer to the Grades screen.

If you have already started grading, retrospectively changing rubric settings alone will not automatically update existing grades. You must update the rubric settings and then re-submit each rubric in SpeedGrader for the grades to transfer.

First update the rubric settings:

• Open your assignment, click the Edit button (pencil icon) next to your rubric.

• In the rubric settings, locate and tick the checkbox “Use this rubric for assignment grading”. Then click on ‘Save Rubric‘ on the bottom right to confirm your changes.

Secondly, once you have updated the rubric setting, you will need to resubmit the rubric for each assignment within SpeedGrader, to do that follow the steps below:

• Open the relevant assignment in SpeedGrader.
• For each submission you will need to access the rubric and then click the Submit Assessment button to re-save the rubric.

• Once you have clicked Submit Assessment the grade should now appear in the Grade out of box in the SpeedGrader marking panel and will also be transferred to the Grades screen.

In Canvas a manual grade posting policy is used, this means grades should remain hidden until you are ready to release them. For more information on releasing grades see: Managing the release of grades and feedback