Ok. Looks like it is a theme issue. I am trying to use FormFactor. Changed it to standard and 'graded' changes color appropriately.....
Leatherbound, Anomaly, and Arialist all have the same problem of graded essays not showing up for me?!? haven't checked others. Some sort of CSS, install, or config issue?!? Weirdness.. rollovers and other stylesheet settings on the themes are working fine.
using moodle 2.0