Halcyon Posted April 25, 2012 Share Posted April 25, 2012 (edited) Read this article in the NYTimes the other day and to me, it epitomizes EVERYTHING that's wrong with standardized testing. I love how the robot can't tell if the writer uses completely incorrect facts, and how THIS NONSENSE ESSAY garnered the top score of 6 from the robo-grader. :ack2: :LOL: Edited April 25, 2012 by Halcyon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluegoat Posted April 25, 2012 Share Posted April 25, 2012 Hee hee. Why anyone would think a robot grading an essay is a good idea is beyond me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted April 25, 2012 Author Share Posted April 25, 2012 I particularly enjoyed the part where he says a team could easily develop an App that will write a top-scoring essay. "There's an app for that!!!" :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rivka Posted April 25, 2012 Share Posted April 25, 2012 If you read through the comments on the NYT article, you'll see several commenters who have been paid to score standardized test essays for Pearson and ETS. They report being given 2-3 minutes to score each essay. The rubrics prioritize things like length, number of paragraphs, and connecting words, rather than a well-developed idea. They don't have time to assess how well the ideas are developed. Given this context, it's ironic that the e-Rater proponents claim that it grades "as well as a human." As well as a human given 2 minutes, a banal rubric, and intense pressure to produce results that agree with another rater's? Sure. As well as a human thoughtfully grading an essay? Hardly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrothead Posted April 25, 2012 Share Posted April 25, 2012 That all makes me angry really. I guess it's just a money making game. :glare: Of course it is. The whole process is a money making game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted April 26, 2012 Author Share Posted April 26, 2012 I think it pisses me off most of all, because inevitably, the teaching of writing will be EVEN MORE geared towards getting a "6" on these sorts of exams, rather than focusing on developing a true writer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trilliums Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 (edited) If you read through the comments on the NYT article, you'll see several commenters who have been paid to score standardized test essays for Pearson and ETS. They report being given 2-3 minutes to score each essay. The rubrics prioritize things like length, number of paragraphs, and connecting words, rather than a well-developed idea. They don't have time to assess how well the ideas are developed. Given this context, it's ironic that the e-Rater proponents claim that it grades "as well as a human." As well as a human given 2 minutes, a banal rubric, and intense pressure to produce results that agree with another rater's? Sure. As well as a human thoughtfully grading an essay? Hardly.[/QUOT I wonder how much time is allotted to grading SAT essays. OH, WOW. So, students do not need to know how to write, just master the test prep, and the testing company is OK with that....yikes! "E.T.S. officials say that Mr. Perelman’s test prep advice is too complex for most students to absorb; if they can, they’re using the higher level of thinking the test seeks to reward anyway. In other words, if they’re smart enough to master such sophisticated test prep, they deserve a 6." Edited April 26, 2012 by Trilliums Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErinE Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 Well heck I would have given it a 6 for entertainment value. :lol: But yeah, that's pretty bad. I agree with WendyK! What an awful thing, but very entertaining essay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nancypantsgirl Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 Oh the humanity!! :banghead: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripe Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 "They say Mr. Perelman is setting a false premise when he treats e-Rater as if it is supposed to substitute for human scorers." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skimerinkydo Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 My daughter is in ps high school and she has to turn in her English papers online to be graded ... one of them is at turnitin.com It is my understanding that the teachers have so many students that they don't read every paper... or assign as many as they used to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mimm Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 I read a long article about this once. It was very disturbing. Your college admission or how much scholarship money you might be offered can be drastically affected by your standardized test scores and the way they are graded is ridiculous. People with very little training, are pressured to grade as many essays as possible as quickly as possible. The testing center wants a certain number of each grade. If they start to realize that they are awarding too many low scores, they will tell the graders to award more high scores. And vice versa. Something as ridiculous as the length of the essay will matter more than how well expressed the ideas in the essay are. They have to follow their little formula and if a grader deviates from that because they think that the essays should be graded on actual quality of thought, they will be reprimanded. It's pretty crazy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripe Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 I thought sites like Turn It In ran some sort of plagiarism analysis, but didn't grade? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElaineJ Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 I was particularly amused by this quote in his "grade 6" essay : "And that's the real reason for education, to get those good grades without thinking too much and using up too much time." :lol: Yeah....seems to be the core of the problem here. I think I would like Mr. Perelman to teach my children. The robot graders, though, is an appalling idea! It is only a short time before teachers start using the robo-graders guidelines as their own so that schools can get better rankings.....yikes. Elaine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the4Rs Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 You all are missing the point entirely. Didn't you read that stellar essay? It is the fault of all Teacher Assistants. They are to blame for everything...I bet it is because of them that the e-rater robo grader failed to properly grade that essay. Darn Teacher Assistants....ruining everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted April 26, 2012 Author Share Posted April 26, 2012 You all are missing the point entirely. Didn't you read that stellar essay? It is the fault of all Teacher Assistants. They are to blame for everything...I bet it is because of them that the e-rater robo grader failed to properly grade that essay. Darn Teacher Assistants....ruining everything. :lol::lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forget-Me-Not Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 (edited) You all are missing the point entirely. Didn't you read that stellar essay? It is the fault of all Teacher Assistants. They are to blame for everything...I bet it is because of them that the e-rater robo grader failed to properly grade that essay. Darn Teacher Assistants....ruining everything. Well, they're too busy starring in feature films to really TA. Priorities, you know. Edited April 26, 2012 by LemonPie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadrunner Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 This explains why so many colleges don't consider SAT writing section scores. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kolamum Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 I once failed a test because of a robot. :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rivka Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 My daughter is in ps high school and she has to turn in her English papers online to be graded ... one of them is at turnitin.com It is my understanding that the teachers have so many students that they don't read every paper... or assign as many as they used to. turnitin.com is a plagiarism analysis program. It checks the kids' essays against each other, against Wikipedia, and against papers for sale on the web. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onceuponatime Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 (edited) If you read through the comments on the NYT article, you'll see several commenters who have been paid to score standardized test essays for Pearson and ETS. They report being given 2-3 minutes to score each essay. The rubrics prioritize things like length, number of paragraphs, and connecting words, rather than a well-developed idea. They don't have time to assess how well the ideas are developed. Given this context, it's ironic that the e-Rater proponents claim that it grades "as well as a human." As well as a human given 2 minutes, a banal rubric, and intense pressure to produce results that agree with another rater's? Sure. As well as a human thoughtfully grading an essay? Hardly. "How I Gamed the SAT" http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-op-sat3apr03,0,2463944.story Edited April 26, 2012 by Onceuponatime Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmos Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 "How I Gamed the SAT" http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-op-sat3apr03,0,2463944.story Interesting article. This was a discouraging quote, though he followed it with some useful tips. Length doesn't always mean a better score, but I would advise any kid: Write at least a page and a quarter. Nobody who got one of the top scores wrote one page or less. A few essays that struck me as clear, terse, logical and readable got strangely mediocre scores. More sadly, the test will reflect poorly on many a fine thinker and writer who contemplates deeply and composes through careful honing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In The Great White North Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 Does anyone know if the AP English tests use a similar rubric? 2-3 minutes per essay? Or just the SAT/ACT? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.