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Report card season can mean writing forty versions of “good effort” late at night. AI can do the drafting, but the facts must come from you: you write short notes, the AI turns them into sentences, and you edit until each comment is accurate and sounds like you.
Can teachers use AI to write report card comments?
Yes, as a drafting assistant rather than the author. The strongest evidence so far is about planning, not comments. In a 2024 trial run by NFER for the Education Endowment Foundation, 259 science teachers in 68 schools took part, and those using ChatGPT with a guide cut lesson-planning time by 31% on average, about 25 minutes a week (Chartered College of Teaching summary of the EEF trial). A panel of science teachers found no difference in resource quality, though the researchers caution that this rests on a limited sample. We know of no similar trial for report comments, so treat time savings as likely, not proven.
The risks are clearer. A 2025 Common Sense Media risk assessment of AI teacher assistants rated the category “moderate” risk and found that content, including feedback features, “at times reflected social biases”. When testers gave behaviour-plan tools the same description of a struggling student under different names, the plans varied with the race and gender the model inferred. The report says experienced teachers must evaluate outputs before classroom use.
Feedback matters. Hattie and Timperley's review describes feedback as among the major influences on achievement, with an effect that depends on its type and how it is given (Hattie and Timperley, Review of Educational Research, 2007). A vague comment wastes that chance.
What should you give the AI, and what should you keep out?
Keep student identity out. India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 defines a child as anyone under 18 and requires verifiable parental consent before a child's personal data is processed (DPDP Act, 2023, Gazette of India). Follow your school's AI policy first; by default:
Use a code such as “Student A” instead of a name, roll number or photo.
Leave out health, family circumstances, caste, religion and anything you would not say in front of the parent.
Do give observable facts: a marks trend, specific skills, one example of work, one next step.
How do you turn your notes into a comment?
Write shorthand notes, three to five lines per student. Here is a worked example for a Class 9 student:
Science unit tests: 58 to 71 this term; balancing equations now accurate
Rushes numericals, skips units
Asked a good question on why ice floats
Next: show working, write units on every line
Then use one prompt for the whole class, so the voice stays consistent:
“I am a Class 9 science teacher. Draft a report card comment for parents using only the facts in my notes. Do not add anything.”
“Write three sentences, under 60 words: one strength with its example, one area to work on, one next step the student can do at home.”
“Warm, plain English. No ‘excellent’ or ‘outstanding’, and no labels such as ‘lazy’ or ‘weak’.”
Paste the coded notes.
A typical draft reads: “Student A has made steady progress in science this term, rising from 58 to 71 in unit tests, and now balances chemical equations accurately. Their curiosity shows in questions such as why ice floats. To keep improving, Student A should write every step, with units, in each line of a numerical.”
Now edit. Put the name back, swap “steady progress” for your own phrase, and check the marks against your register. If you could read it aloud to the parent, it is done.
How do you check AI-drafted comments for accuracy, tone and bias?
Run every comment through this five-point check:
Facts: every number, chapter and example matches your register and notes.
Specific: it names one skill and one next step, not just “good effort”.
Kind and honest: a struggling student hears what to do next, not a verdict.
Fair: mentally swap the name or pronoun. Would you have written the same thing?
Yours: no phrases you would never say. If three comments open the same way, rewrite two.
Our posts on using AI to draft marking rubrics and how AI marking compares with teacher marking cover where AI helps and where your judgement must lead. Parents reading a tough comment may find our guide to talking with a child after a difficult parent-teacher meeting useful.
Where can students go with the next step you set?
A good comment ends with a next step, such as “revise the mole concept” or “practise showing working”. Students who want to act on it can look the idea up in the Fermi Concept Library, which has a lesson for every concept in physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics and computing. If they do not know where to start, Fermi's AI tutor works out what they already know and builds a plan for the session.
Try the method on five students this week and keep the prompt that gives comments you would sign.
