Case Studies and Testimonials

The Criterion® Online Writing Evaluation service is a powerful writing tool used nationally by community colleges, four-year colleges and universities to motivate students and support faculty curriculum, remediation, placement and assessment. Faculty, English department chairs and administrators continue to discover new ways to incorporate the Criterion service within their writing programs.

Case Studies

Dallas County Community College District
When Dallas County Community College District instructor Robert Cooper first saw ETS's Criterion Online Writing Evaluation service, he recognized its value for enhancing his classroom instruction and improving his students' writing skills. Along with using the Criterion service to assign essay topics and provide immediate feedback, he added it to his peer review process to compare feedback and help improve his classes' peer reviews. Cooper saw "dramatic improvement in student writing" within one short term.

Wayne State University
With a large and diverse student population, Wayne State University needed a way to provide reliable writing evaluations in a timely manner. They chose ETS's Criterion Online Writing Evaluation service. "I immediately saw that the Criterion service was able to support teachers in their efforts to give every student the attention and guidance they need to master writing skills as quickly as possible," says Marta O. Dmytrenko-Ahrabian, Associate Director, English Language Institute.

East Texas Baptist University
East Texas Baptist University requires use of ETS's Criterion Online Writing Evaluation service in its Composition One classes to help students benchmark and improve their writing skills. Robert Ellison, English Department faculty, states, "We've been using the Criterion service at East Texas Baptist for several years now. Although it has not replaced instructor-to-student work, it adds a very helpful dimension to the writing process."

Lawson State Community College, Birmingham, Alabama
Students at Lawson needed to improve their writing skills, and faculty needed an efficient way to help them edit and revise their work. At the same time, records that documented student progress had to be maintained. Lawson State decided to use ETS's Criterion Online Writing Evaluation service to address these challenges. At least 500 students per semester are now using the Criterion service. Students are now in better control of their writing progress and faculty use electronic portfolios to track each student's progress.

North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University
North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University offers degree programs at all levels, with core concentrations in agriculture, engineering, science, technology and business. To give students a competitive edge for success in a world where technology has changed the way we communicate, Vice Chancellor Robert Ussery saw the need for students to improve their writing skills across the curriculum. Ussery chose ETS's Criterion service as a learning tool that students could use to help them succeed at school and in the workplace. Today, 11,000 students at NCAT have unlimited access to the Criterion Online Writing Evaluation service and, on average, those who use it have received half a grade higher than those students who do not.

Testimonials

Camden County Community College

"Camden County Community College introduced the Criterion service to help make placement decisions for all incoming students. The Criterion service offers an effective initial assessment of student writing ability with immediate results.

"Before using the Criterion service, faculty were required to evaluate each incoming student's writing in great detail, which was time-consuming and created long delays between testing and placement decisions. With the Criterion service, we are now able to collect student essays and scores, and make placement decisions quickly.

"Instructors use the Criterion service in our composition courses for practice and for extra credit. And, along with a faculty reader, we use the Criterion service to score the final essay assessment for English Comp One.

"At Camden County Community College, we've established a Virtual Writing Lab using the Criterion service. We want our students to write often. The Virtual Writing Lab has been so successful that we've provided access to it to local middle and high school students. With so many students writing this frequently, paperless essays and the Criterion service are one way to provide accurate scores and valuable feedback so students can work at their own level and pace, and improve at the same time."

Anthony Spatola
Chair, English Department
Camden County Community College
Blackwood, N.J.

University of Minnesota

"I've used the Criterion service in my Composition One classes as a learning tool and for pre- and post-testing. I'm thrilled that this tool has helped my students improve, and their scores confirm that. According to the comparisons I've done with my own records, Criterion scores are very accurate. Also, it is a time-saver for instructors trying to quickly assess students' levels of writing ability without consuming inordinate amounts of time reading through essays and calibrating scores of other faculty and their students. Beyond the personalized feedback, I even make use of the sample essays and the scoring guides in a subsequent lesson. The students can then make their own assessments with the samples while matching up their writing to that of their classmates when I turn on the "share" function. Nothing like a little competition among peers to help motivate my students!"

Kristen Gray
Lecturer, English Department
University of Minnesota

East Texas Baptist University

"We've been using Criterion service at East Texas Baptist for several years now. The university used to offer remedial writing courses, but now all Comp One students write an essay using a Criterion prompt. Students who receive scores of 3 or less are required to take four tutoring sessions in which they work on their essays. At mid-semester they resubmit their essays.

"Some students in Comp One use the Criterion service for every essay. These students refer to the annotated feedback as they work on their essays. The online portfolio and printouts of the feedback give instructors a way to see how students proofread and edit their work. Although it has not replaced instructor-to-student work, the Criterion service adds a very helpful dimension to the writing process."

Dr. Robert Ellison
Faculty, English Department
East Texas Baptist University
Marshall, Texas