"Automation is generally seen as a sign of progress, but what is lost when we replace humans with machines?" While the question may be nuanced and complex, 313 high school students tackled this ACT Writing Prompt in late October as they prepared papers for the ESU 9, 10, and 11 ACT Analytical Writing Scoring day. The students themselves were not in the building, but their thoughts and ideas arrived ahead of them!
On November 1, 2022, fourteen teachers from ESU 9, 10, and 11 worked together to score 313 papers from students in grades 9-11. ESU 10 hosted the event after a preliminary training day on September 27 where teacher participants from all three service units learned how to administer the ACT Writing test using high leverage strategies for utilizing argumentation in analytical writing. Then, teachers returned to their own districts and assigned the prompt titled "Intelligent Machines" to their students.
At their schools, students wrote with a maximum time allotment of 40 minutes, either typing or penning their responses to the prompt. Then, their teachers submitted the papers to ESU 9, who printed and coded the papers before the day of training.
Teachers arrived on November 1 ready to score papers, and they were able to accomplish grading all student responses by the end of the day. Each paper was scored twice by two separate readers from different districts. Teachers walked away from the day with the papers and scores, ready to discuss the results with their students.
We will repeat this day in February with a brand new prompt at ESU 9. We are looking forward to seeing how this next day of scoring stacks up!