Oregon students allowed to use spell check on standardized tests

The Oregon Department of Education recently announced that students taking its standardized tests will be allowed to use spell check during the online essay portion of the exam.

However, some academic insiders believe that using spell check is not teaching the students about how to succeed in the real world, according to NPR. More so, even some students said they feel like they are being cheated out of a challenge.

"If we always constantly use spell check, then what about when we get in situations like [the SATs]?" high school junior Ashley Smith tells the news provider. "When we don't have it, we'll get completely confused and maybe even fail it, because [spelling is] one of the parts that they grade you on."

The Oregon Department of Education announced this transition last September, but the spell check is just starting to go into effect. Through these new rules, spell check will be available on standardized tests taken by seventh graders and students in high school. If students are taking the paper-based version of the test, they will be allowed to put large portions of their writing into a word processor for spell check.