The following problems in the field of essay grading have persisted: (1) low reliability of grading, (2) deciding upon elements or variables to consider, and (3) deciding on the weight to assign to each variable. Described are two aspects of a study on essay grading at the high school level in Alberta, Canada: (1) the reliability of scoring procedures, and (2) the effectiveness of the procedures with respect to educational objectives. The grade 12 essay examination was written by 13,000 students. It was scored by 48 readers according to a fixed pattern employing 22 variables grouped according to grammar and content. The following statistical procedures were performed: (1) correlations of scores given by each reader, (2) a factor analysis on the variables to determine what underlying elements were present, (3) estimations of reliability of scoring by use of correlation means, and (4) an analysis of variance on scores. The effectiveness of the variables was judged. Variables were then grouped according to six factors, and tables to factor loadings and factor descriptions were developed. Style-content variables were found to be very heavily weighted and as this was against the intention of the author, another study, employing a different weighting technique is planned. (JS)