They state that the essays will still be graded with the same rubric. http://www.act.org/content/act/en/newsroom/act-will-move-to-2-to-12-score-range-for-act-writing-test-result.html
Excellent news!
Except the mistakes made this year gave the impression of unreliability, which in conjunction to the sat making the writing test optional, led many colleges to simply stated they’ll take the act without writing.
This happens as of September