Investigating the Promise of Automated Writing Evaluation for Supporting Formative Writing Assessment at Scale
Wilson, J., Myers, M. C., & Potter, A. (2022). Investigating the promise of automated writing evaluation for supporting formative writing assessment at scale. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 29(2), 183-199. https://doi.org/10.1080/0969594X.2022.2025762
This study investigates whether MI Write can support formative writing assessment at scale in elementary grades by examining teachers' perceptions and implementation alongside changes in student writing performance across the school year. Teachers generally viewed the system as usable and useful, but implemented it in limited ways, and student performance gains were uneven across grades and genres.
Key takeaways
- Teachers reported that MI Write was usable, acceptable, useful, and desirable, but their implementation tended to be narrow.
- Student performance did not improve uniformly from fall to spring, underscoring the challenge of scaling formative assessment well.
- The study argues that scalable AWE is valuable only when educators also use it to evaluate and adjust core instruction.
Why it matters
This article connects Dr. Wilson's classroom AWE research to district- and system-level formative assessment questions, showing how implementation quality constrains scalability.
Coauthors
Joshua Wilson, Matthew C. Myers, Andrew Potter
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