Link to: Philadelphia Inquirer | 03/28/2006 | Colleges pushed to prove worth
Some time ago, Gardner proudly announced that he had passed 8th grade math. Soon, students at the nation’s 3000 universities may be able to display a little logo on their facebook or myspace accounts proudly documenting that they had passed their grade 16 test and were legitimately able to claim to be college graduates.
Over 100 institutions, including Lehigh, are experimenting with a standardized test that will demonstrate to legislators, business leaders and tuition paying parents that colleges really are doing their jobs and educating students. How will they do it–with essay tests like these:
Sample Writing Prompt: Public figures such as actors, politicians and athletes should expect people to be interested in their private lives. When they seek a public role, they should expect that they will lose at least some of their privacy.
That will be graded by a computer program called “e-rater”. Graduate students will be employed to grade the task performance section, which will include questions such as this: