Reliability of Grading High School Work in English

This research replicates the work of Starch and Elliot (1912) by examining the reliability of the grading by English teachers in a single school district. Ninety high school teachers graded the same student paper following professional development sessions in which they were trained to use NWREL's - 6+1 Traits of Writing.- These participants had been instructed to construct a 100-point rubric, assigning point values to each trait (though not all complied with this request). To evaluate the reliability in grading, data were analyzed for teachers reporting scores on a 100-point scale. Of the 73 participants who graded on a 100-point scale, the scores ranged from 50 to 96. Analysis suggests that many of these teachers are proficient at assessing student writing, many are unaware of or simply resistant to research suggestions for writing assessment, and many show signs of being - assessment illiterate- (Stiggins, 1995)