Re:raters' rates?

[dokelly@mail.wsu.edu (Diane Kelly-Riley)]

At Washington State University, we have two tiers of raters for our
placement system.  All of the raters are instructors of the entry-level
composition courses into which students are placed.  We rely on their
expertise to identify the type of writing that would be successful in these
courses.  These readers have taught in WSU's sytem for at least one year
before they can be hired as readers.  The first tier sorts the
obviously-ready-for-entry-level-composition writing from essays that
present significant concerns (in terms of their readiness for English 101)
for the readers.  We pay this tier of readers $20.00 an hour.

The second tier of readers, who have more teaching expertise and expertise
with our placement system, are paid $40.00 an hour.  They decide the
course(s) appropriate for each student based on the students' instructional
needs.  We have six placements possible including an ESL sequence, a
concurrent writing tutorial attached to English 101 and a basic writing
course.  Most of these readers have experience teaching at least some of
these courses.


We pay our readers at these rates because our system relies greatly on
their expertise.




Diane Kelly-Riley
Coordinator of Writing Assessment
Washington State University
Pullman, WA  99164-5046
fax: (509) 335-2582
phone: (509) 335-1323