A method of determining an input character based upon character recognition output of an education assessment system may include receiving, by a processing device, a proposed value generated using character recognition. The proposed value may be associated with at least one handwritten character of an assessment. The method may include determining, by the processing device, whether the proposed value is correct, by determining a posterior probability associated with each of one or more possible characters, identifying the possible character associated with the posterior probability having a highest value, and in response to identifying the proposed value as the possible character associated with the posterior probability having a highest value, determining, by the processing device, that the proposed value is correct, otherwise, determining that the proposed value is incorrect.