On January 17, 2026, the Performance and Usability Upgrades for SpeedGrader will officially enter General Availability (GA). At that time, the feature option will default to ON for all institutions, while still allowing admins to opt out if they need more time to prepare. Full enforcement will follow in July 2026.
These updates represent more than a tune-up. They introduce a modernized SpeedGrader designed specifically to support the needs of high-enrollment courses while preserving the familiar interface educators rely on. And after more than a year of testing, iteration, and customer feedback, we’re thrilled to roll this out broadly.
Why we made these updates
SpeedGrader is one of the most essential tools in Canvas. As course enrollments have grown, educators have shared that SpeedGrader can slow down or become unstable under heavy load.
To address this, we began a long-term modernization effort to rebuild SpeedGrader’s underlying architecture. The goal: maintain the familiar experience, but dramatically improve performance, stability, and scalability.
That work has paid off. Early testing has shown:
- 10x faster load times in large-enrollment courses
- 99% reduction in crashes
- Very high user satisfaction (NPS 69 during EAP)
- Feedback highlighting how “familiar” the experience feels, while grading is noticeably smoother and faster
This lays the groundwork for future improvements and ensures SpeedGrader is ready for the future of teaching and learning.
A transparent look at feedback and improvements
Before we jump into the exciting GA updates, we want to acknowledge the feedback and improvements that brought us here. We collected feedback from thousands of you, which helped us uncover issues and gaps that only real-world usage can reveal.
We’ve already resolved close to 80% of all reported issues, including the most impactful performance and experience concerns, and we’re continuing to make rapid progress prior to GA.
If you tested the new SpeedGrader early or haven’t tried it recently, now is a great time to revisit it. There is still plenty of time to validate the experience and share feedback ahead of GA.
Minimal UI changes, major performance gains
While the biggest improvements live on the backend, we made several small updates to the experience:
- Updated Sections drilldown menu
- Refreshed No Submission and Empty Course states
- Updated Grade Status selector to match recent design patterns
- Rubrics in SpeedGrader always display in the enhanced traditional grid view for consistency
- Improved comment attachment workflow (easier uploads, clearer delete icon)
These changes are small. Instructors can jump in and start grading without retraining or change management, while immediately benefiting from improved speed and reliability.
What does GA in January look like?
SpeedGrader upgrades will move to General Availability on January 17, 2026, with the following behavior:
- Default state: ON for all accounts
- Opt-out available: Admins can toggle the feature OFF after GA if more testing or internal communication is needed
- No migration steps or onboarding required
- Minimal disruption expected
- Full change management resources and documentation will be linked below
This approach ensures that institutions benefit immediately from all of the changes, while retaining control over timing and adoption.
July 19, 2026, the feature change will be enforced. At that time, the feature flag will be removed and the new architecture will become the only SpeedGrader experience.
Why is it enabled by default?
Setting the feature to ON by default helps institutions:
- Access the performance improvements immediately
- Reduce risk during peak grading periods
- Unlock related improvements (such as Enhanced Rubrics benefits, AI grading tools, etc.)
- Prepare ahead of the July 2026 enforcement date
The experience was designed to be minimally disruptive while showing significant performance improvements.
Resources & documentation
We’ve consolidated all existing materials to support testing, communication, and rollout:
Thank you
A huge thank-you to every instructor, admin, and institution that participated in feedback cycles. Your testing, bug reports, and insights led directly to the thousands of improvements that ensure we’re delivering a SpeedGrader experience that is more reliable and ready for the future, while still feeling like the SpeedGrader you know and trust.
