Page 29 - Composition in Convergence The Impact of New Media On

xxviii INTRODUCTION

nal pressures begin. In 1919, The College Board opened. Shortly
thereafter, ETS started its operation followed by ACT. The entrench-
ment of multiple-choice, or indirect, writing assessment became ap-
parent in the 1950s. As James A. Berlin (1987) observed, during the
same period, the rise of undergraduate instruction in multiple
rhetorics occurred between 1940 and 1960. It appears that rather
than having writing assessment drive instruction at the college level,
writing specialists of that era established a countermeasure to the
then-current psychometric technology in place.
Again, in the 1970s, when essay-grading software systems took
root as the first phase of convergence in writing assessment, another
countermeasure also began to rise. In the early 1980s, Pat Belanoff,
Peter Elbow, and Lester Faigley among others pushed for more direct,
performative forms for evaluating student writing. By the early
1980s, teaching college writing in response to multiple rhetorics was
commonplace, and indirect writing assessment needed to give way
to researchers' discoveries that evaluation needed to match what
students were learning in the classroom. As a result, portfolios ap-
peared as the answer for engaging in performative student writing
assessment. Essay-grading software became overshadowed by
Composition's embracing of the portfolio. However, essay-grading
software did not fall far from view over the last 30 years even
though compositionists were not necessarily paying attention until
the developers made some bold announcements about the Intelligent
Essay Assessor and the program's ability to grade essays more
efficiently and effectively than teachers could.
As Composition begins the 21st century, many writing teachers
have reached a "so what?" stage regarding writing assessment prac-
tices, as their familiarity with the portfolio has taken hold. This
searching is particularly true if instructors are heavily invested in
computer literacy and they need to discover ways to blend current
trends in writing assessment with networked writing activities. We
appear to be in the second phase of convergence between the two
technologies as Saffo's 30 year progression seems to show another
intersecting point. This time the struggle seems to be whether es-
say-grading software will overtake the portfolio. If so, what will
writing instruction and assessment look like in the future for all
levels, K through 20?
This is not a silly question to ask. Since 1997, with the most recent
fusing of writing assessment and computer technologies, Composi-