Oregon Spell Check
Oregon will allow students to use spell checkers
The start of the article:
Do you have to be good at spelling to be a good writer? Not necessarily, at least not in Oregon public schools.
As middle and high school kids begin taking state writing tests next month, they'll have a new tool at their fingertips: spell check.
For the first time, Oregon is allowing students -- those taking online and paper tests -- to use a spell check button on a computer to check their work before submitting answers to the writing test prompts. State officials say the change is an opportunity to better assess students' writing skills and focus less on typos.
"We are not letting a student's keyboarding skills get in the way of being able to judge their writing ability," said state Superintendent Susan Castillo. "As we're using technology to improve what we're doing with assessments as a nation, we believe that spell check will be one of those tools."
And from another source:
Ode to a Spell Chequer
I have a spelling chequer
It came with my PC
It plainly marks for my revue
miss takes I cannot see
I've run this poem threw it
I'm shore your pleased two no
its letter perfect in its weigh
my chequer tolled me sew.
(Fascinatingly enough, my spell checker does not like "chequer")
I am providing this, because I do not know how much press it received outside of my state. Also to give lazarus yet another opportunity to comment on the superiority of Spanish orthography.
4 Answers
I am from Oregon, and I can tell you that the school budget has been slashed every single year since I began kindergarten back in the early 90's. This year the situation is so bad that, in my city (about 140,000 people), they are looking at laying off over 100 teachers and 50+ classified staff, combining grades and adding up to 6 more children per classroom to make up for the massive deficit. Several schools are on the 'chopping block' as well. Unfortunately there is no way one teacher can effectively provide individual instruction for 30+ kids. If we want our education system to work, we need to make it a priority, and in this case, money talks. Edit: More on the point of spelling, as a native English speaker, I had to memorize how many words are spelled [e.g. people- in my mind I would say "pee-Oh-pl for spelling tests as a child]. (Learners of English: one of the best ways to gain a large vocabulary and know how to spell is reading!!!). I often have to write down a word (see it) to remember how it is spelled.
My computer checks spelling in Spanish and English! In the same paragraph! It doesn't care if you type complete gibberish as long as it's spelled write
Spelling is a visual skill. Unfortunately for the dyslexic, it is misunderstood as representing a level of education, or something to do with intelligence.
They're mite bee sum-thing two you're art-tickle...
butt eye dew knot bee-leave it my self.
My spell chequer is in-fowl-a-bull. 
(Although it did pick up "chequer" as you mentioned 
)
"As we're using technology to improve what we're doing with assessments as a nation, we believe that spell check will be one of those tools."
What they are doing is using technology to continue pushing illiterates through the system.
But there are worse advances in technology: In the state of Ohio where you take your written driving test on state computers, you can skip any question you want until you find one you can answer. You can skip so many that the replacement may be a question you have already answered. And yes, there are many morons on Ohio roads.
