Tool Price Demo/Trial Version Web-Based
or Download
Features Notes
Criterion Online Writing
Evaluation Service
$8–$12 per student
per year,
$300 initial training
session fee,
districtwide options
Free, fully functional 30-
day trial for one teacher
and 30 students
Web-based,
instructor-led writing
tool; data stored on ETS
servers; downloadable
results
E-rater scoring engine
assesses sentence
organization, grammar,
usage, and style;
provides diagnostic
feedback and a holistic
score; student/teacher
dialog boxes
Free online planning
templates, writer’s
handbooks, essay
assignment topic library,
alignment to Common
Core State Standards,
student peer review tool
Essay Tagger $20 per month per
teacher, schoolwide
licenses available
Free, fully functional trial
version for 99 essays;
no time limit
Web-based, no software
installation, data saved
in the cloud
Inserts reusable
comments, customizable
pop-up rubrics, data
analysis of results
Common Core
progression data, iPad
Pages support, Ed Tech
Cool Tool 2013 finalist
IntelliMetric $20 per student per
year, 100-student
minimum
Fully functional trial
version on request
Scoring of both short-
answer and extended-
response essays
Uses artificial
intelligence and natural
language processing to
identify writing that is off
topic or off task, uses
bad syntax, or includes
grammatical errors
Used in high-
stakes professional
examinations
T. A. Toolbar Single-user license
$150, site-level license
starting at five users
Free, fully functional trial
version; 10-hour limit
Desktop application,
data saved on user’s
computer
Comment generator,
URL insertion for help,
one-click indexing of
all errors, statistical
tracking, quick
plagiarism detection tool
Customizable buttons,
addresses 50 of the
most common kinds
of writing errors
Turnitin Site licensing available,
customized to school,
approximately $2.50
per student
Free, fully functional
pilots to institutions;
1–3 months
Web-based,
data stored on Turnitin’s
servers
Drag standard or
customized marks and
comments directly to the
paper, voice comments,
rubrics
Originality is a primary
focus, plagiarism
function searches
through millions
of documents
Writing
Roadmap
Site licensing available,
customized to district
Comprehensive product
demo, trial version
Web-based, data stored
on user’s computer
Dynamic hyperlinks,
customized descriptive
prompts, formative tool
to assess and improve
student writing
On-demand writing
assignments and
tutoring, emphasis on
Common Core essay
and performance test
items in all subjects
