Air Education and Training Command Studies and Analysis Squadron (AETC SAS) in conjunction with the Air Command and Staff College (ACSC) at Maxwell AFB, Alabama is assessing innovative technology for computer assisted evaluation and feedback of essays. The focus of study is the first examination given to all students enrolled in the non-resident program at ACSC. The course subject matter is National and International Security Studies. Educational research has long recognized that essays are more effective for measuring depth of comprehension than multiple-choice examinations. Unfortunately, the process of evaluating, grading, and providing feedback of essay based material is resource and labor intensive. Successful results would allow the non-resident program at ACSC to use a more probing test instrument, essay evaluation, to measure student comprehension through essays vs. multiple choice questions, without an increased demand on resources or labor. Essay examinations completed by resident ACSC students were used to calibrate and validate enhanced computer assisted essay grading software, which will then be used to score essay tests obtained from a sample of the non-resident program students in the fall term 2002. Results from pre-implementation baseline and post-implementation will be analyzed to determine effectiveness.