Proviso High School Township District 209 is considering dropping the PSAT National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test as part of the admissions process for the Proviso Math and Science Academy.
The move comes after the Illinois State Board of Education announced that high school students will now take the ACT exam rather than the SAT, which had been the required test since 2016.
Interim Supt. Alexander Aschoff said during the July 16 board meeting it is no longer in the best interest of incoming eight graders from the district’s 11 foundation schools to use the test for admissions.
“I don’t believe this is going to be the best assessment because we are not going to be assessing these students on this test later on,” Aschoff said.
According to the meeting agenda, minimal information has been given by the state concerning the administration of the PreACT. This has raised concerns over its use for admissions as a different assessment would be able to provide actionable data for future students as the district would be able to compare scores down the line and measure student growth.
“We wanted to find something that is not only going to be used for admissions but support teaching and learning as they matriculate through our grades,” Aschoff said.
Aschoff is recommending the district explore other options for admissions testing and said he is in talks with Renaissance Star, a service and learning analytics company that provides Pre-K through 12 grade educational software and adaptive assessments, to increase the district’s licenses.
According to Aschoff, the district already provides students with Renaissance assessments three times a year to every Proviso student. By administering the same test, the district could calculate student growth.
Currently the PSAT assessment accounts for 35% of a student’s score for admissions.
A second test, the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test, a measurement of cognitive ability, accounts for another 35% of a student’s total score. The remaining 30% is accounted for through a student’s seventh grade transcript from the core grades: English, math, social studies, and science.
Aschoff said more information will be presented to the board in a future meeting.
ACT Prep
The district also will be looking for other vendors to assist with ACT test preparation. It had been using SAT Suite of Assessment through a contract with the College Board. But the College Board does not offer ACT prep, so a new partnership is needed.
“We knew that we needed to find someone to partner with to help on the professional development side to support our teachers but most importantly something on the academic side to support our student so academically they felt ready when it comes time in April,” Aschoff said.
Horizon Education has been recommended for a $27,000-contract to provide instructional support and a practice assessment at all Proviso schools.
In additional to providing the pre-practice test, Horizon’s online platform would design learning based on a student’s results.
“Its program has a learning path for our students,” Aschoff said. “It would be a supplemental piece in the classroom where students log into an online portal and do their practicing.”
Teachers would also be able review test scores and adjust their in-class curriculum to go over certain areas again if needed to provided additional support, Aschoff said during the meeting.
Under the new state requirements, juniors will be taking the ACT in the spring, with sophomores taking the PreACT Secure and freshman students taking the PreACT 9 Secure.
ISBE switched back to the ACT from the SAT to save money, and because, as State Superintendent of Education Tony Sanders said in May, the ACT aligns with the state’s learning standards. The state-administered test will include mathematics, reading, science, writing and English language arts.
Board President Samuel Valtierrez questioned whether the prep courses would help current students becoming higher achievers and improve scores.
“Sometimes the administration brings in new initiatives and says, ‘Okay it’s $300,000 or $400,000,’ but it takes a whole cohort to actually get there and instead of spending that $400,000 we’re spending $1.6 million,” Valtierrez said.
Aschoff said that was difficult to answer the question at that time, adding that the district needs a tool specifically for the ACT.
“We do need a tool to progress monitor this specific assessment,” Aschoff said. “It is an important assessment. It is different from the SAT, how it is structured, what it assesses, the distractors and how the assessment was built, everything is different.”
Aschoff said the board will vote whether to approve the partnership with Horizon during the Aug. 13 board meeting.
Aschoff said the district is also looking into a potential separate partnership with Academic Tutoring to provide an ACT bootcamp. This would provide juniors with more “intense” live-instructor learning which can include after school and Saturday sessions or even blocked out time during the school day to prep for the ACT.
“It is looking at what is going to meet the needs of our school administration based on their own planning so we can work with them to customize what this bootcamp looks like,” Aschoff said.
Aschoff said the item will be brought to the board in the near future to ask for additional funds to support the bootcamp.
“The board members have expressed interest in years past,” Aschoff said. “The bootcamp is going to be very targeted at specific times as we near the actual ACT.”