Parents may assume that the essays their children write for state exams are graded by a roomful of English teachers, but they are not. Statewide assessments are scored by testing companies. The Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests, including the writing exams, are scored by employees of Data Recognition Corp. outside Minneapolis. Susan Trent, the company's vice president for performance assessment services, said the scorers complete about three days of training on Pennsylvania's standards and writing requirements. The training includes extensive review and practice using writing samples graded by a team of Pennsylvania teachers.
Students write two essays for the state exam.
Elliott said Vantage's IntelliMetric software undergoes a training process similar to human scorers. That is why the technology is successful. The computer is introduced to a series of writing samples that have been scored by the teacher panel, and then asked to grade others to ensure that the computer's score moves closer and closer to the score determined by the teachers. Unlike human scorers who may give different grades to the same essay depending on the time of day they read it, IntelliMetric gives the same score every time. It doesn't get tired.