Lessons Learned from Scoring Student Writing

Once upon a time, I was responsible for the hand-scoring of student writing on statewide exams. Which meant ensuring that each student’s writing sample was scored against a criteria set by the state. Here’s what I learned.

Lesson 1

“What is happiness, and how can it be achieved?” Sounds like the perfect writing prompt, doesn’t it? Imagine thousands of students waxing poetic. But what if one of those students is too smart for his own good?

I present to you his response in its entirety, having remembered it across the years: Happiness is a sunny day. Happiness is a shade tree. Happiness is a girl. Happiness can be achieved on a sunny day, under a shade tree with a girl.

The first reader gave it a 1, the lowest possible score, because she thought it was smart-alecky. The second reader gave it a 4, the highest score. The third reader, required when scores needed adjudication, broke into laughter. It was a 4. The student met the prompt’s requirements and did so cleverly. But was the response what was anticipated? No. I’ve always thought it was better, surprising and breezy.

Lesson: No matter the theme of a book, or how well it’s written, readers apply a scale based on their own expectations. That means, some like reader 1, expecting a cozy, for instance, will gasp if a book isn’t cozy enough, let’s say sex happens with the bedroom door open. And some, like reader 2, will be captivated if the same scene is done well and is delightful. Depending on their reaction, they’ll either read your next book or not. If I could train all readers (reviewers) on any scale where one is low, I would urge them to consider that very, very few published writers, due to the process itself, deserve a score of 1, which, in a holistic assessment, translates to disgustingly poorly written. Abysmal comes to mind.

Lesson 2

To accommodate a religious group, a state changed its writing prompt from “What would you do without TV for a year?” to “What would you do without friends for a year?” An available alternate prompt asked, “What was the most important invention of the last hundred years, and why?”

In response to the first prompt, “no TV or no friends,” many students wrote that if they had to spend a year without friends, they would go to the hayloft to watch TV. Sort of like the organ in the attic in “Friendly Persuasion,” though a different sect.

On the other hand, readers mocked responses to the second prompt when rural students chose electricity because the toilet wouldn’t flush without it. The choice made no sense to city readers, whose toilets flushed no matter.

Lesson: Readers do not share a common background. They may not know that those on well water need electricity to flush the toilet. Some may be aghast, rather than charmed, to discover the subterfuge of watching TV in the barn, when a religion forbids TV. Which means don’t assume what your readers know. Show, right?

Lesson 3

During training, readers often noted that many students struggled with their responses, knowing their writing would be scored by strangers.

Lesson: I suspect we have all stalled or stopped writing a book, not because it wasn’t working, but because of fear. Especially when we step outside our zone – writing a first standalone rather than the next book in a series, writing historical fiction rather than a detective or procedural, and … (fill in the blanks). If you believe in your story, finish it. Who knows? It might be a super 4 and blast you into a new market of adoring fans. You’ll never know if you don’t try, just as hundreds of thousands of students didn’t.

Lesson 4

Developing writing prompts? Good luck to authors who spend weeks crafting a prompt for an AI engine that will then write their book. They will soon discover the product requires weeks of editing (or rewriting) to ensure the book’s quality, preserve their voice and vision for their characters, and meet their readers’ expectations, etc., or so my experience with the vagaries of prompt writing tells me. No matter how well sculpted the prompt, there will always be surprises.

And, so, remember, happiness can be achieved on a sunny day, under a shade tree with a: