by Evelyn Beck

As an English teacher who has devoted countless nights and weekends, not to mention my formerly keen eyesight, to grading student papers, I have met the news about essay-grading software with a mixture of joy and unease. Is it really possible, I wondered, that a computer might take over a chore that is often, admittedly, pure drudgery? Can a computer really evaluate a student’s writing as carefully and helpfully as I do? And if that is possible, does it mean I’m expendable?

Several companies have developed essay-grading software. Their products include IntelliMetric by Vantage, Intelligent Essay Assessor by Pearson Knowledge Technologies, SAGrader from Qualrus, and Criterion from ETS.

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