diff --git a/djangoapps/courseware/__init__.py b/djangoapps/courseware/__init__.py
index e69de29bb2..97b279cda0 100644
--- a/djangoapps/courseware/__init__.py
+++ b/djangoapps/courseware/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+"""
+Course settings module. The settings are based of django.conf. All settings in
+courseware.global_course_settings are first applied, and then any settings
+in the settings.DATA_DIR/course_settings.py are applied. A setting must be
+in ALL_CAPS.
+    
+Settings are used by calling
+    
+from courseware import course_settings
+
+Note that courseware.course_settings is not a module -- it's an object. So 
+importing individual settings is not possible:
+
+from courseware.course_settings import GRADER  # This won't work.
+
+"""
+
+
+import courseware
+import imp
+import logging
+import sys
+import types
+
+from django.conf import settings
+from django.utils.functional import SimpleLazyObject
+from courseware import global_course_settings
+
+_log = logging.getLogger("mitx.courseware")
+
+
+
+class Settings(object):
+    def __init__(self):
+        # update this dict from global settings (but only for ALL_CAPS settings)
+        for setting in dir(global_course_settings):
+            if setting == setting.upper():
+                setattr(self, setting, getattr(global_course_settings, setting))
+                
+        fp = None
+        try:
+            fp, pathname, description = imp.find_module("course_settings", [settings.DATA_DIR])
+            mod = imp.load_module("course_settings", fp, pathname, description)
+        except Exception as e:
+            _log.error("Unable to import course settings file from " + settings.DATA_DIR + ". Error: " + str(e))
+            mod = types.ModuleType('course_settings')
+        finally:
+            if fp:
+                fp.close()
+                
+        for setting in dir(mod):
+            if setting == setting.upper():
+                setting_value = getattr(mod, setting)
+                setattr(self, setting, setting_value)
+
+
+course_settings = Settings()
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/djangoapps/courseware/global_course_settings.py b/djangoapps/courseware/global_course_settings.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b75ff6ee78
--- /dev/null
+++ b/djangoapps/courseware/global_course_settings.py
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+GRADER = [
+    {
+        'course_format' : "Homework",
+        'min_count' : 12,
+        'drop_count' : 2,
+        'short_label' : "HW",
+        'weight' : 0.15,
+    },
+    {
+        'course_format' : "Lab",
+        'min_count' : 12,
+        'drop_count' : 2,
+        'category' : "Labs",
+        'weight' : 0.15
+    },
+    {
+        'section_format' : "Examination",
+        'section_name' : "Midterm Exam",
+        'short_label' : "Midterm",
+        'weight' : 0.3,
+    },
+    {
+        'section_format' : "Examination",
+        'section_name' : "Final Exam",
+        'short_label' : "Final",
+        'weight' : 0.4,
+    }
+]
diff --git a/djangoapps/courseware/grades.py b/djangoapps/courseware/grades.py
index efa9ee9d48..af33448b6c 100644
--- a/djangoapps/courseware/grades.py
+++ b/djangoapps/courseware/grades.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import random
 import urllib
 
 from collections import namedtuple
+from courseware import course_settings
 from django.conf import settings
 from lxml import etree
 from models import StudentModule
@@ -317,9 +318,7 @@ def grade_sheet(student):
     each containing an array of sections, each containing an array of scores. This contains information for graded and ungraded
     problems, and is good for displaying a course summary with due dates, etc.
     
-    - grade_summary is a summary of how the final grade breaks down. It is an array of "sections". Each section can either be
-    a conglomerate of scores (like labs or homeworks) which has subscores and a totalscore, or a section can be all from one assignment
-    (such as a midterm or final) and only has a totalscore. Each section has a weight that shows how it contributes to the total grade.
+    - grade_summary is the output from the course grader. More information on the format is in the docstring for CourseGrader.
     """
     dom=content_parser.course_file(student)
     course = dom.xpath('//course/@name')[0]
@@ -379,15 +378,9 @@ def grade_sheet(student):
                          'chapter' : c.get("name"),
                          'sections' : sections,})
     
-    #TODO: This grader declaration should live in the data repository. It is only here now to get it working
-    hwGrader = AssignmentFormatGrader("Homework", 12, 2, short_label = "HW")
-    labGrader = AssignmentFormatGrader("Lab", 12, 2, category = "Labs")
-    midtermGrader = SingleSectionGrader("Midterm", "Midterm Exam", short_label = "Midterm")
-    finalGrader = SingleSectionGrader("Examination", "Final Exam", short_label = "Final")
-    
-    grader = WeightedSubsectionsGrader( [(hwGrader, hwGrader.category, 0.15), (labGrader, labGrader.category, 0.15), 
-        (midtermGrader, midtermGrader.category, 0.30), (finalGrader, finalGrader.category, 0.40)] )
-    
+        
+    grader = CourseGrader.graderFromConf(course_settings.GRADER)
+    #TODO: We should cache this grader object
     grade_summary = grader.grade(totaled_scores)
     
     return {'courseware_summary' : chapters,