A reader explains what happened when she was hired to score the FCAT:
My first job out of college in 2001 was scoring 8th grade FCAT essays. We made $10/hour in a small office building in Arizona, and we churned out scored tests like Big Macs.
Sometimes the bossmen would test our overall consistency by having us score the same writing sample. One of these samples blew me away with its creativity and control of language. It had definite boy’s handwriting and was written in one solid block of text with almost a full blank page left over. Handwriting, paragraphs, and length weren’t supposed to matter according to the rubric, but half of the scorers gave the paper the lowest score. The sample paper was supposed to have received the highest score (6), but it ended up receiving every possible score.
I still don’t understand why we hate children so much in this country.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“I still don’t understand why we hate children so much in this country.”
Because they cost more money than they earn. In America, “E Pluribus Unum” is translated as “Everyone for his- or herself, and the Devil take the hindmost.”
The free market: Everyone for himself.
Public schools: a responsibility to the common good.
Hi, Diane!
Did you see my earlier comment that the Maine legislature is taking up bills to either freeze or ban virtual charters?
http://www.pressherald.com/news/democrats-take-aim-at-virtual-schools_2013-01-29.html?searchterm=virtual+charter+school
I hope you’ll given them some kudos. And the article mentioned how K12 is under investigation in multiple states.
I’m not sure how any of this was a problem, and certainly not indicative of hating children. When I started teaching 15 years ago, there was a yearly essay that every 10th grader in the state of RI had to write. Teachers were recruited to grade these essays on a scale of 0-4, if I remember correctly, with a 0 indicating no response. All papers were double-scored, and papers receiving scores that were 1 or more ranks apart (a 2 and a 4, for example) were reviewed by a committee.
I thought this was a great experience as a new teacher. Of course, one of the habits learned was to give every paper a grade of 2 or 3, by asking oneself if the other teacher were more likely to give it a 1 or a 4 (teachers who gave the “wrong” answer on a paper that went to committee were called up for an explanation, which was embarrassing).
Despite its issues, it was a sound program and I don’t see how a business doing the same thing equates to hating kids.
The “problem” is obvious! These “graders” are not teachers,
they are and could be someone who used to run a Target Store…
A huge, glaring difference between that grader and a teacher!
“Of course, one of the habits learned was to give every paper a grade of 2 or 3, by asking oneself if the other teacher were more likely to give it a 1 or a 4 (teachers who gave the “wrong” answer on a paper that went to committee were called up for an explanation, which was embarrassing).”
*THIS* was a “sound program”??? I’d had to see what you’d consider a faulty program.
I’m curious, BTW, did any paper get anything other than a 2 or 3?
Ron, glad it was a great experience, and yes, I do think it is a good idea to hire teachers to help grade student essays. And some people on this list hate multiple choice tests – but asking students to write essays is not a multiple choice test.
Sometimes the ways of grading essays need to be improved. I’ve known people who have been hired to grade essays and had similar concerns.
But moving beyond standardized multiple choice tests is a good idea. I wish we would require longer than the 1-2 page essays that often are used, because it can push teachers to require only those brief essays. But overall, I think your points are very good.
Maybe because the purpose is not a positive one. Maybe it’s just part of the scam and stupidity of the mania for testing, and of course, the corporate greed that feeds this destructive money making enterprise! If it were truly for the educational betterment of students, the graders would have to have some qualifications that show they could accomplish this task with a knowledge of the subject! How would anyone want to have ” the test results of a blood test “graded” by a person who had no knowledge of what to look for OR evaluate? Just look at the ceiling and guess an answer…