diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/instructor/management/__init__.py b/lms/djangoapps/instructor/management/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e69de29bb2
diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/instructor/management/commands/__init__.py b/lms/djangoapps/instructor/management/commands/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e69de29bb2
diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/instructor/management/commands/dump_grades.py b/lms/djangoapps/instructor/management/commands/dump_grades.py
new file mode 100644
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+++ b/lms/djangoapps/instructor/management/commands/dump_grades.py
@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+#!/usr/bin/python
+#
+# django management command: dump grades to csv files
+# for use by batch processes
+
+import os, sys, string
+import datetime
+import json
+
+from instructor.views import *
+from courseware.courses import get_course_by_id
+from xmodule.modulestore.django import modulestore
+
+from django.conf import settings
+from django.core.management.base import BaseCommand
+
+class Command(BaseCommand):
+    help = "dump grades to CSV file.  Usage: dump_grades course_id_or_dir filename dump_type\n"
+    help += "   course_id_or_dir: either course_id or course_dir\n"
+    help += "   filename: where the output CSV is to be stored\n"
+    # help += "   start_date: end date as M/D/Y H:M (defaults to end of available data)"
+    help += "   dump_type: 'all' or 'raw' (see instructor dashboard)"
+
+    def handle(self, *args, **options):
+
+        # current grading logic and data schema doesn't handle dates
+        # datetime.strptime("21/11/06 16:30", "%m/%d/%y %H:%M")
+
+        print "args = ", args
+
+        course_id = 'MITx/8.01rq_MW/Classical_Mechanics_Reading_Questions_Fall_2012_MW_Section'
+        fn = "grades.csv"
+        get_raw_scores = False
+
+        if len(args)>0:
+            course_id = args[0]
+        if len(args)>1:
+            fn = args[1]
+        if len(args)>2:
+            get_raw_scores = args[2].lower()=='raw'
+
+        request = self.DummyRequest()
+        try:
+            course = get_course_by_id(course_id)
+        except Exception as err:
+            if course_id in modulestore().courses:
+                course = modulestore().courses[course_id]
+            else:
+                print "-----------------------------------------------------------------------------"
+                print "Sorry, cannot find course %s" % course_id
+                print "Please provide a course ID or course data directory name, eg content-mit-801rq"
+                return
+
+        print "-----------------------------------------------------------------------------"
+        print "Dumping grades from %s to file %s (get_raw_scores=%s)" % (course.id, fn, get_raw_scores)
+        datatable = get_student_grade_summary_data(request, course, course.id, get_raw_scores=get_raw_scores)
+    
+        fp = open(fn,'w')
+    
+        writer = csv.writer(fp, dialect='excel', quotechar='"', quoting=csv.QUOTE_ALL)
+        writer.writerow(datatable['header'])
+        for datarow in datatable['data']:
+            encoded_row = [unicode(s).encode('utf-8') for s in datarow]
+            writer.writerow(encoded_row)
+    
+        fp.close()
+        print "Done: %d records dumped" % len(datatable['data'])
+
+    class DummyRequest(object):
+        META = {}
+        def __init__(self):
+            return
+        def get_host(self):
+            return 'edx.mit.edu'
+        def is_secure(self):
+            return False
+
+    
+