[Ohiogift] A Senior AP History Test Reader

[Will Fitzhugh]

[Grading 350 Essay Responses to Document-Based Questions each day...]


"The AP History Grading Reality:

Before the whole thing starts, they tell us they have cut the norm based on the objective part of the test that they have already graded (25- or 26-year-old math graduate students who are eating the cheap reception cheese and drinking the cheap wine with us). When we are grading, we are told by our table leader if we are grading to high or too low based on how the kids we are grading did on the objective portion of the test. If you are grading too tough or too easy, they back-read all of your essays to make sure that your score is "valid" according to the predetermined "norm" from the objective part of the test. They assume that there is a valid correlation between the score on the multiple choice questions and the scores on the free response sections. All teachers know that this is balderdash because we have seen kids who are brilliant test takers, but lazy writers and vice versa.

I had to stop doing this because it was so hypocritical, the ETS and College Board are money-making machines (no difference now between Pearson and ETS), and I killed way too many brain cells reading 350 essays a day, and the food got worse and worse. I loved going to San Antonio. When they moved it to Louisville to cut costs, that was all for me."



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“Teach by Example”
Will Fitzhugh [founder]
The Concord Review [1987]
Ralph Waldo Emerson Prizes [1995]
National Writing Board [1998]
TCR Institute [2002]
730 Boston Post Road, Suite 24
Sudbury, Massachusetts 01776-3371 USA
978-443-0022; 800-331-5007
www.tcr.org; fitzhugh at tcr.org
Varsity Academics®
tcr.org/bookstore
www.tcr.org/blog


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