Doesn’t matter if it’s right. Just write. A lot.
SAT graders are told to read an essay just once and spend two to three minutes per essay, and Dr. Perelman is now adept at rapid-fire SAT grading. This reporter held up a sample essay far enough away so it could not be read, and he was still able to guess the correct grade by its bulk and shape. “That’s a 4,” he said. “It looks like a 4.”
Which brings me back to Freidman:
Look at the attention Congress has focused on steroids in Major League Baseball, Mr. Barrett mused. And then look at the attention it has focused on science education in minor-league American schools. That’s the real news out there, folks. And it’s not funny.
There’s a pattern here.
Oy.
In Rhode Island, they used to (still do?) have English teachers from around the state take a couple of days off, sit in a historic mansion next to the bay and grade the essays for the state writing assessment. It is an eye opening experience in many ways, and an excellent form of professional development.
Having done this myself, I can easily believe what is being described in this article, but the fact of the matter is, this is far less alarming than it might seem. It seems that very few poor writers can crank out long, but lousy timed essays. And the factual accuracy of the essay is entirely beside the point. If I was training kids to take this kind of writing assessment, I’d try teaching them to make up weird fanciful stories with lots of funny, bizarre details.