Approved by the NCTE Executive Committee, April 2013
[A] computer could not measure accuracy, reasoning, adequacy of evidence, good sense, ethical stance, convincing argument, meaningful organization, clarity, and veracity in your essay. If this is true I don’t believe a computer would be able to measure my full capabilities and grade me fairly. – Akash, student
[H]ow can the feedback a computer gives match the carefully considered comments a teacher leaves in the margins or at the end of your paper? – Pinar, student
(Responses to New York Times The Learning Network blog post, “How Would You Feel about a Computer Grading Your Essays?”, 5 April 2013)
Writing is a highly complex ability developed over years of practice, across a wide range of tasks and contexts, and with copious, meaningful feedback. Students must have this kind of sustained experience to meet the demands of higher education, the needs of a 21st-century workforce, the challenges of civic participation, and the realization of full, meaningful lives.
As the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) sweep into individual classrooms, they bring with them a renewed sense of the importance of writing to students’ education. Writing teachers have found many aspects of the CCSS to applaud; however, we must be diligent in developing assessment systems that do not threaten the possibilities for the rich, multifaceted approach to writing instruction advocated in the CCSS. Effective writing assessments need to account for the nature of writing, the ways students develop writing ability, and the role of the teacher in fostering that development.
Research1 on the assessment of student writing consistently shows that high-stakes writing tests alter the normal conditions of writing by denying students the opportunity to think, read, talk with others, address real audiences, develop ideas, and revise their emerging texts over time. Often, the results of such tests can affect the livelihoods of teachers, the fate of schools, or the educational opportunities for students. In such conditions, the narrowly conceived, artificial form of the tests begins to subvert attention to other purposes and varieties of writing development in the classroom. Eventually, the tests erode the foundations of excellence in writing instruction, resulting in students who are less prepared to meet the demands of their continued education and future occupations. Especially in the transition from high school to college, students are ill- served when their writing experience has been dictated by tests that ignore the ever-more complex and varied types and uses of writing found in higher education.
Note: (1) All references to research are supported by the extensive work documented in the annotated bibliography attached to this report. The bibliography is drawn from a body of independent and industry research that supports other critiques of machine scoring, such as the Professionals Against Machine Scoring Of Student Essays In High-Stakes Assessment Petition Initiative.
These concerns — increasingly voiced by parents, teachers, school administrators, students, and members of the general public — are intensified by the use of machine-scoring systems to read and evaluate students’ writing. To meet the outcomes of the Common Core State Standards, various consortia, private corporations, and testing agencies propose to use computerized assessments of student writing. The attraction is obvious: once programmed, machines might reduce the costs otherwise associated with the human labor of reading, interpreting, and evaluating the writing of our students. Yet when we consider what is lost because of machine scoring, the presumed savings turn into significant new costs — to students, to our educational institutions, and to society.
Here’s why: Continue reading →
