Adv-Comp/2006-10-13

Automatic Essay Scoring - Part 2!! †

to be linked to the following:

Assignment due in two weeks: †

One topic ONLY, Do either one of the two levels: Hgh School or Middle School
1. role model
2. Letter grades vs 'PASS' or 'FAIL' grades
Passing grade is the program score of
1. 　"3" out of 4 full points!!
2. or "4" out of 6 point scale!!
Attach a print out page of the scored comment sheet when submitting the final draft

The Model Essays: at HOLT site †

Example prompts with model essays:

Copyright ｩ by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.~

Writing prompts at HOLT site

Middle School level †

Copyright ｩ by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.~

Example prompts: Role Model †

Role Model The Model Essay: †

The Prompt:

A role model is a person you admire or look up to. Before you begin writing, think about someone you look up to. Why do you admire this person? Write a composition in which you explain to your classmates whom you admire and why you admire this person.

The Model Essay:

A Ray of Light

She was a lost cause. No one could help her because she couldn't see, hear, or speak. Why did Anne Sullivan think she could help Helen Keller when no one else could? She took on a task that many people thought was impossible: to communicate with Helen Keller and to bring this blind, deaf, and mute girl into a world that she could never have imagined. Anne Sullivan is the one of the people I most admire. Through her determination, her ability to connect with a troubled child, and her refusal to give up, she set an important example for all of us.

Anne Sullivan was an ordinary person on the outside; however, her character reveals that her ordinary appearance was misleading. Her greatest qualities were inside her. Anne was an intelligent woman who could deal with all that life threw her way. In 1887, life gave her the opportunity to meet her greatest challenge, Helen Keller. To be able to cope with all that came with this job, she relied on her determination and her loving and patient personality. No matter how grim others saw the situation, Anne saw the little steps of progress in Helen; no matter how long it took, she refused to give up her hope that someday Helen would be able to function like other children.

I personally hold a great admiration for Anne Sullivan because she connected with Helen Keller and made her life better. To truly touch and brighten the life of a child is one of the most incredible achievements that one could ever hope to reach. Helen had lived a life of complete frustration, absolutely cut off from the world around her. Anne Sullivan frustration, absolutely cut off from the world around her. Anne Sullivan changed that. She taught a girl who didn't know anything about relationships and love to communicate with a world she couldn't see or hear. Helen Keller's life was changed for the better because one woman's untiring efforts paid off. Anne Sullivan connected with her, as one human being to another.

An accomplishment second only to touching the life of a child is completing what most would consider an impossible task. Anne Sullivan did both. Though many before her had tried to teach Helen and failed, she began her task as though nothing could stop her. Even after several minor failures of her own, Anne continued to push Helen and herself to find a way for this little girl to know the outside world. She put in long hours of frustration and hope in order to complete her task. Most people in her position would have given up and left this poor girl on her own, but Anne Sullivan was different: She put Helen before everything else. By refusing to give up, she set herself apart from all others. Bringing light and hope to a child, though many obstacles might stand in your path, is something that few people accomplish. With her never-ending patience and love, Anne Sullivan succeeded where others had failed. She is an extraordinary role model for me because she is a symbol of all that I hope to be and accomplish in my life.

Feedback by the program: †

On a 4-point scale, here's your score: 3

Yes, 3 This response demonstrates competent success with the expository writing task. For the most part, the essay:

focuses on a clear thesis, with minor distractions
shows effective organization, with minor lapses
offers mostly thoughtful ideas
develops ideas adequately, with a mixture of general and specific elaboration
exhibits basic control of written language

Analytic Feedback for Your Essay †

Our system has analyzed your essay for five important writing traits:

Content and Development
Focus and Organization
Effective Sentences
Word Choice
Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics

Study the statements that describe each trait to help you improve your writing.

Content and Development †

Your essay shows competent ability for this trait. For the most part, the essay:

uses some meaningful and thoughtful ideas
elaborates and supports some ideas with a mixture of general and specific details, reasons, explanations, and/or examples

Focus and Organization †

Your essay shows advanced ability for this trait. For the most part, the essay:

consistently addresses the prompt
shows strong awareness of audience
displays a clear plan with a logical arrangement of ideas and effective use of transitions
demonstrates strong unity and completeness

Effective Sentences †

Your essay shows competent ability for this trait. For the most part, the essay:

generally forms sentences correctly but with occasional errors
demonstrates sentence quality with few, if any, awkward sentences
displays some variety in sentence types, lengths, structures, and beginnings
displays some fluency

Word Choice †

Your essay shows advanced ability for this trait. For the most part, the essay:

uses words that are especially appropriate to audience and purpose
uses many words that are precise and accurate; may be vivid and imaginative
may use figurative language and imagery skillfully

Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics †

Your essay shows advanced ability for this trait. For the most part, the essay:

demonstrates consistent command of language conventions
exhibits consistent command of spelling, punctuation, and capitalization

Pass or Fail vs Letter Grades †

Copyright ｩ by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.

The Prompt: Pass or Fail vs Letter Grades †

Your principal is considering a new grading policy that replaces letter or number grades on report cards with pass or fail. What is your position concerning this issue? Write a letter to your principal stating your position and supporting it with convincing reasons. Be sure to explain your reasons in detail.

The Model Essay: Pass or Fail vs Letter Grades †

Copyright ｩ by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.

Dear Principal Smith:

I have looked over your proposal for a grading policy that will replace letter or number grades with pass or fail. I do not consider this a good idea for our high school. A pass or fail grading system will make it harder for our graduates to get into college, will create problems for teachers accepting students into advanced classes, and will encourage more students to slack off in school.

A pass or fail system will create a situation that makes it hard for colleges to distinguish how much students have actually accomplished. They might have 98s and 99s in all classes, but their transcripts will simply say pass. This kind of grading situation will make it look as if our high-achieving students have accomplished no more than any other students, including those who make Cs under our current system. The result is a major problem for college admissions officers. If they discover that our system makes all passing students look the same regardless of their real accomplishment in the classroom, colleges might begin to rely more on SAT and ACT scores for pass-fail students who apply for admission. In my opinion, SAT and other college entrance exam scores do not measure a person's ability as a student. Certainly, they cannot measure the hard work that goes into an A. Thus, when colleges have only standardized test scores to go by, they will not really be able to identify the most qualified students.

Aside from the problem with choosing qualified college students, pass or fail grading will make it harder to place students in advanced courses in high school. When students apply for admission to an Advanced Placement class, the teacher will not be able to tell anything from their transcripts, except whether the applicants "passed" previous courses. With pass or fail grading, a student might have barely gotten by in a previous class, but the AP teacher will have no way of knowing that. A problem with fairness will result. Many students will likely sign up for advanced classes that have limited enrollment, and some of the hardest-working, most deserving students will not get in --- again because the new system will have no way to distinguish them from their peers who just coast through high school.

Finally --- and most important --- I oppose pass or fail grading because it will encourage students to slack off. Since students will know that all they have to do is pass, many will do just enough to get by. They will not care that their efforts have earned a C in their courses because the transcript will say nothing higher than pass. We already have too much of the slacker mentality here. Just look at the large percentage of our students who do not register for honors courses, do not qualify for even second or third tier on our honor roll, and do not bother to apply for college. The local newspaper batters us every year for this kind of inertia. Imagine how much worse it will be when the incentive to achieve disappears --- and when more and more of our students give in to the increasing apathy and just quit trying.

Having a pass or fail grading system might seem like a good idea to you, but it will hurt all our students in the long run. We will not learn as much as we did in the past, since all of us will be affected by the decreasing interest in high standards. Finally, this epidemic of just getting by will damage our high school's reputation, and that is something no one would want.

Respectfully yours,
Robert Gonzalez

Feedback by the program †

On a 4-point scale, here's your score: 4

Yes, 4
This response demonstrates advanced success with the expository writing task.
The essay:

focuses consistently on a clear thesis
shows effective organization throughout, with smooth transitions
offers thoughtful, creative ideas
develops ideas thoroughly, using examples, details and fully elaborated explanation
exhibits mature control of written language

Analytic Feedback for Your Essay †

Our system has analyzed your essay for five important writing traits:

Content and Development
Focus and Organization
Effective Sentences
Word Choice
Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics

Study the statements that describe each trait to help you improve your writing.

Content and Development †

Your essay shows advanced ability for this trait. For the most part, the essay: uses mostly meaningful and thoughtful ideas elaborates and supports most ideas with specific details, reasons, explanations, and/or examples

Focus and Organization †

Your essay shows advanced ability for this trait. For the most part, the essay:

consistently addresses the prompt
shows strong awareness of audience
displays a clear plan with a logical arrangement of ideas and effective use of transitions
demonstrates strong unity and completeness

Effective Sentences †

Your essay shows advanced ability for this trait. For the most part, the essay:

forms sentences correctly; errors in sentence formation are rare and minor
demonstrates exceptional sentence quality by avoiding awkward sentences
displays considerable variety in sentence types, lengths, structures, and beginnings
displays considerable fluency

Word Choice †

Your essay shows advanced ability for this trait. For the most part, the essay:

uses words that are especially appropriate to audience and purpose
uses many words that are precise and accurate; may be vivid and imaginative
may use figurative language and imagery skillfully

Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics †

Your essay shows advanced ability for this trait. For the most part, the essay:

demonstrates consistent command of language conventions
exhibits consistent command of spelling, punctuation, and capitalization

Score scales and their descriptors †

Students will see the descriptors associated with the score their essays receive.

This response demonstrates advanced success with the expository writing task. The essay:

focuses consistently on a clear thesis
shows effective organization throughout, with smooth transitions
offers thoughtful, creative ideas
develops ideas thoroughly, using examples, details and fully elaborated explanation
exhibits mature control of written language

This response demonstrates competent success with the expository writing task. For the most part, the essay:

focuses on a clear thesis, with minor distractions
shows effective organization, with minor lapses
offers mostly thoughtful ideas
develops ideas adequately, with a mixture of general and specific elaboration
exhibits general control of written language

This response demonstrates limited success with the expository writing task. The essay may:

include some loosely related ideas that distract from the writer’s expository focus
show some organization, with noticeable gaps in the logical flow of ideas
offer routine, predictable ideas
develop ideas with uneven elaboration
exhibit limited control of written language

This response demonstrates emerging effort with expository writing. For the most part, The essay:

shows little awareness of the topic and purpose for writing
lacks organization
offers unclear and confusing ideas
develops ideas in only a minimal way, if at all
exhibits major problems with control of written language

Unscorable

This response is unscorable for one or more of the following reasons. The paper may be:

so unusual that it cannot be scored by the computer
off-topic
a paraphrase of the prompt
written in a foreign language
incomprehensible
too brief to determine whether the student has responded to the task
a written refusal to write

Frappr Forum site: †

#c-o-m-m-e-n-t-s posted †

#c-o-m-m-e-n-t-s deactivated 11/26/06

Adv-Comp / 2006-10-13

人気の10件

最新の30件

Automatic Essay Scoring - Part 2!! †

Assignment due in two weeks: †

The Model Essays: at HOLT site †

Middle School level †

Example prompts: Role Model †

Role Model The Model Essay: †

Feedback by the program: †

Analytic Feedback for Your Essay †

Content and Development †

Focus and Organization †

Effective Sentences †

Word Choice †

Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics †

Pass or Fail vs Letter Grades †

The Prompt: Pass or Fail vs Letter Grades †

The Model Essay: Pass or Fail vs Letter Grades †

Feedback by the program †

Analytic Feedback for Your Essay †

Content and Development †

Focus and Organization †

Effective Sentences †

Word Choice †

Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics †

Score scales and their descriptors †

Frappr Forum site: †

#c-o-m-m-e-n-t-s posted †

人気の10件

最新の30件