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Computer Grades WestTest Essays

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Reporter: Shannon Houser

New Essay Tests in Wood County

You can't guess with this test. An essay style answer brings new concern about making the grade.

Preparing for months. Students across the mountain state completed WestTest last week. The focus of their studies, reading and language arts.

"It's a large portion of the reading-language arts exam. It counts for 30 out of the 70 points for reading-language arts. 48 percent of that test is based on the online writing assessment," explains Wood County Schools Head Of Curriculum, Judy Johnson.

But that online writing assessment is graded not by a teacher, but a computer. It's the third year this system is in place, using six key points to determine the students grade.

"Organization, sentence structure, word choice and usage. It does look for certain words. It looks for transition words like 'because,' 'then.' "

With such a strong emphasis on the reading portion, does the grading machine actually work? Educators say it does.

"They do assess it and they do have a check where people may actually pull essays and check for validity."

One reason for the success could be another program that helps them practice. "West Virginia Writes is a tool that the students can go in and it gives the students a prompt and they write their exam online and it's scored immediately. So it gives them a chance to see how they scored."

And studies prove practice does make perfect. Students who use the program actually score higher on WestTest.

Educators say the grading system is similar to how essays on ACT and SAT tests are graded.