Opinion
Education Letter to the Editor

When Writing Apps Rule: A Not-Too-Distant Future

March 04, 2014 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

To the Editor:

While recovering from surgery, I read through a pile of articles and blog posts, including “Study Examines Cost Savings Through ‘Machine Scoring’ of Tests” (Marketplace K-12 blog, Feb. 14, 2014). Immediately afterward, I read “An App That Can Make You Write Like Ernest Hemingway,” on esquire.com, and I saw the (not-so-distant?) future.

Microsoft Word already will automatically check our spelling, grammar, and style as we type, for a Strunk and White do-over. Hemingway was perhaps our foremost Strunk and White writer, and now Hemingwayapp.com will make students’ prose read more or less like Papa’s.

So imagine: Students run their writing through the Hemingway app, then teachers run the Hemingway app rewrite through Turnitin.com, and then schools run the Turnitin-Hemingwayapp rewrite through the Educational Testing Service’s e-rater or Vantage Learning’s IntelliMetric.

Soon, competing technology will be available: PARCCapp. SATapp. UCLAadmissionsapp. The apps will hack into one another. They will control the prewriting and the revising. Main ideas and details will flow among locked intelligent systems. No typewriters or monkeys will be required. No children required either.

And students will rediscover the joys of child-centered literacy.

Richard Tracey

Scottsdale, Ariz.

A version of this article appeared in the March 05, 2014 edition of Education Week as When Writing Apps Rule: A Not-Too-Distant Future

Events

Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and K-12 education jubs at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Mathematics K-12 Essentials Forum Helping Students Succeed in Math
Student Well-Being Live Online Discussion A Seat at the Table: The Power of Emotion Regulation to Drive K-12 Academic Performance and Wellbeing
Wish you could handle emotions better? Learn practical strategies with researcher Marc Brackett and host Peter DeWitt.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Education Quiz What Lowers Teacher Turnover? Take This Weekly Quiz
Test your knowledge on the latest news and trends in education.
1 min read
Education Quiz Which State Is About to Pass a ‘Science of Reading’ Law? Take This Weekly Quiz
Test your knowledge on the latest news and trends in education.
1 min read
Education Quiz What is a Project 2025 Author Doing at the Education Department? Take This Weekly Quiz
Test your knowledge on the latest news and trends in education.
1 min read
Education Briefly Stated: June 11, 2025
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
5 min read