<p>It’s a useful tool… for determining which students have mastered the attention-grabbing-introduction-topic-sentence-subtopic1-subtopic2-big-words-everywhere formula. Turning essay grading over to essay-grading software is basically an admission on behalf of the school that its teachers don’t expect their students to think outside the box, use complex or unusual writing techniques, or develop unique writing styles–all things that would deviate from the described model. I have nothing against College Board’s use of this grading method (if your essay is too short, it gets graded by a computer) because the SAT is supposed to assess your basic literacy, not your creativity. But it is appalling that high schools are lowering their standards so much.</p>