What criteria are used to determine why a response is deemed either Sufficent (S) or Insufficient (I) on the scoring results page?
Five years of research and development stand behind the creation of the software. The electronic-grading or written responses feature uses all the mechanical components found in other writing correction programs and adds some rhetorical features that address common components of good writing. The original version of the program supplied teachers with scores of Sufficient or Insufficient, with the evaluative data posted. I found that teachers soon revealed the mastery formula to the students in their desire for students to get passing scores, and the self-remediation component of the software was quickly compromised. The grading system is in the process of patenting, and releasing exact grading criteria would breach copyright protection. The best way for teachers to evaluate the program is to have students take the sample test on the site and view the breakdown of the results.
