On Tuesday, March 25, Kaneland High School juniors will take the American College Testing (ACT) benchmark exam as a graduation requirement, which will help them prepare for their lives after high school.
The ACT is a test that gives a score from one to 36 based on the average of a student’s score in the English, math, reading and science sections of the test. There is also a writing portion at the end of the exam. A student’s ACT score can be used for college applications, admissions and scholarships.
For the past eight years, Kaneland required juniors to take the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) due to a state requirement. However, the state reverted to the ACT.
“The Illinois State Board of Education has control and decides which benchmark tests are used across the state,” Assistant Principal for Curriculum and Instruction Brian Kowalski said. “Last year, the contract with the SAT expired, so [the board] took the opinions of stakeholders and weighed the option of taking the SAT or switching back to the ACT.”
Like the school offered with the SAT, Kaneland provides optional courses in order to help students prepare for the benchmark test. One of the preparation courses Kaneland provides is through the ExcelEdge program.
“[The classes began] on Tuesday, Jan. 28,” Kowalski said. “We had [about] 50 juniors that signed up. It’s an eight-week course for a couple of hours every Tuesday.”
The program costs $360 and includes an ACT prep textbook.
“I teach them strategies, how to annotate a question properly and how to eliminate answers that are never going to work,” ExcelEdge instructor and Kaneland English teacher Lori Shroka said.
Another test preparation course is offered through Club Z tutoring. For $109, students can take a four-hour class at Kaneland Harter Middle School. The class was offered on Saturday, Jan. 25, and will be offered again on Saturday, March 1.
“The class talks about test strategies, sample questions and format,” Kowalski said.
Kaneland also provides access to free resources to help students prepare for the ACT.
“We have something called the Elton B. Stephens Company (EBSCO) PrepSTEM available through our library,” Kowalski said. “All [students] need to do is log in with their Kaneland email, and they have access to study guides, practice questions and flash cards.”
The ACT website also provides a free practice test. On the website, students can log in to MyACT to access the test and receive a score with an analysis breakdown of the types of questions they need to improve on.
Administrators and teachers are optimistic about the students who are preparing for the ACT this spring.
“There’s always going to be a learning curve, not just for the students but for the teachers and administrators as well,” Kowalski said. “I’m hopeful for the best and we’ll see how the results come through, and then they’ll see those results to better inform how we proceed next year.”
