Essay scores generated by machine and by human raters are generally comparable; that is, they can produce scores with similar means and standard deviations, and machine scores generally correlate as highly with human scores as scores from one human correlate with scores from another human. Although human and machine essay scores are highly related…

Raters of Georgia's (USA) state-mandated college-level writing exam, which is intended to ensure a minimal university-level writing competency, are trained to grade holistically when assessing these exams. A guiding principle in holistic grading is to not focus exclusively on any one aspect of writing but rather to give equal weight to style,…

The e-rater[R] automated essay scoring system is used operationally in the scoring of TOEFL iBT[R] independent essays. Previous research has found support for a 3-factor structure of the e-rater features. This 3-factor structure has an attractive hierarchical linguistic interpretation with a word choice factor, a grammatical convention within a…

In this article, the author asserts that those who teach writing must regularly engage in conversations with "all" teachers about how their work with and on writing connects to work that students are doing across the entire curriculum. In other words, writing and writing instruction are not and should not be considered the sole responsibility of…

Contrary to previous research on sequential ratings of student performance, this study found that professional essay raters of a large-scale standardized testing program produced ratings that were drawn toward previous ratings, creating an assimilation effect. Longer intervals between the two adjacent ratings and higher degree of agreement with…

Video recordings of instruction have been a mainstay for supporting conversations about teaching by representing particularities of instruction and by presenting the viewer with a multitude of details for interpretation. In this essay, we contrast non-fictional videotapes of actual classroom interaction with fictional animations of classroom…

In this essay, the author interrogated who she is as a scholar practitioner and integrated three texts. Using some salient features from these texts, she framed her identity development around the theme of affirming encounters. These affirming encounters created spaces for personal and professional growth as a scholar practitioner while…

To celebrate Kappa Delta Pi's Centennial anniversary, educators were invited to reflect and write about significant changes in the field of education over the last century and about how education may evolve as we move into the 21st century. Submitted essays were considered through a blind review process, and the winning essays are presented in…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the influence of constructivism on assessment approach, where the type of question (true or false, multiple-choice, calculation or essay) is used productively. Although the student's approach to learning and the teacher's approach to teaching are concepts that have been widely researched, few…

There is a tendency for lecture-based instruction in large introductory science courses to strongly focus on the delivery of discipline-specific technical terminology and fundamental concepts, sometimes to the detriment of opportunities for application of learned knowledge in evidence-based critical-thinking activities. We sought to improve…

The importance of writing skills in enhancing student performance in language exams and even other subject areas is widely acknowledged. At Jaffery secondary, the approach to the teaching of writing has generally been to use three approaches: product-based approach with focus on what the students composed; process-based approach that is focused on…

Although researchers have argued that textbooks should be customized to local cultures and experiences, they rarely are. Ciencia Puerto Rico, a non-profit group interested in promoting science literacy and education among Latino(a)s/Hispanics, identified a need to provide schools with culturally relevant materials. The result was the publication…

Youths' learner-generated designs, instantiated in digital practices, spaces and artifacts, are underutilized in schools. Additionally, digital media tools are often taken up in reductive ways that serve to perpetuate deficit discourses for youth from nondominant communities, rather than reflect the creativity and innovation that youth practice…

Various researchers in second language acquisition have argued for the effectiveness of immediate rather than delayed feedback. In writing, truly immediate feedback is impractical, but computer-assisted feedback provides a quick way of providing feedback that also reduces the teacher's workload. We explored the accuracy of feedback from…

Traditionally, journalism majors gain professional experience before graduation through internships, part-time or summer jobs, and campus media. Those avenues are often insufficient to adequately prepare them for the professional workplace and professional standards. This essay explores two of a journalism school's practice-based programs that…