Grading a drag? Have the district pay someone else to do it.

Some school districts in the Seattle area are paying Professional Readers to evaluate student work, reports the Seattle Times:

In the Northshore School District, some English teachers don't spend much time reading student papers.

In the Bellevue School District, some don't even grade the papers.

Both districts now rely on paid readers to evaluate and in some cases grade student essays in English classes; Seattle's Garfield High School is piloting such a program this year. The use of readers greatly reduces teacher workload and gives students more writing practice, but the trend raises questions about teachers' roles in inspiring and guiding students' work.

...

The use of paid readers isn't new. In the 1980s, before tightened school budgets, many districts hired professional readers to assist their English teachers, said Carol Jago, co-director of the California Reading and Literature Project. The Theme Reader program in Northshore, in which teachers weigh readers' comments and assign grades, has been in place for at least 15 years, officials there say.

But Jago said the practice raises questions, even when teachers work closely with the readers.

"What's lost is how teachers get to know their students through their writing. And students no longer know the audience they're writing for," she said. But others point out that anonymous readers evaluate students on a range of tests including the WASL and the SAT.

.....

Lance Balla, a curriculum and technology coach for Bellevue schools, said the district built into the program several checks to keep teachers informed about their students' work. The teachers develop a scoring guide for each assignment and read three out of every 30 essays. Readers and teachers consult after each set of papers is graded, and teachers are expected to use the readers' comments to look for common problems and if necessary, adjust their teaching.

"It's not just a way to give a kid a score, it's a way to improve instruction across the district," Balla said.

That's debatable, said Stephen Miller, president of the Bellevue Education Association.

"All English teachers would agree that students become better writers by writing more. But is writing many essays more important than personal feedback from your teacher? We don't know the answer," he said.

There's a slightly different angle in the Associated Press article (subscription required), which you can partially read at The Olympian.

I don't see this as being a problem. Like the article says, the best way to become a good writer is to do lots of writing and get meaningful feedback about it. As long as the readers are doing a good job, and the teacher is still informed on what the students are doing, it seems like a good idea.