The purpose of this study was to express in procedural terms one approach in the development of a technique to discover the rating strategies of essay graders. Sets of rater scores obtained from a reading of 256 high school essays by 32 experienced English teachers were submitted to a factor analysis which yielded four meaningful rater clusters. To determine what characteristics in these raters' teaching experiences and personal background appear to be correlates to rating behavior, the clusters were compared on seven items. The factor analysis approach appeared to be a suitable technique. The following conclusions were drawn: (1) There is a strong indication that both age and sex do reflect some kind of underlying rating strategy; but, what specifically in the rating strategy was not determined. (2) Grade level taught and size of class load could be considered together to reflect not so much an underlying rating strategy as a propensity to have younger teachers teach lower grade levels and take the heaviest loads. (3) Education, teaching experience, and number of hours spent teaching composition seemed to contribute little in making distinctions among the clusters. The results indicated that the concepts of reliability and validity used in connection with evaluating composition, as well as clear writing objectives, must be stressed. (Author/LK)