By Staff Writer Taleena Nadkarni
The ACT may no longer be administered for free within Illinois schools beginning in the spring of 2015.
Next year, the state of Illinois will be administering Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC test, in place of the PSAE which includes an ACT. According to the State Board of Education representative for Naperville, Curt Bradshaw, the Illinois State Board of Education is currently in debate over whether the ACT will fit into the budget for testing considering the arrival of the new PARCC assessments during the 2014-2015 school year.
“We are requesting the state to fund both exams,” said Bradshaw. “But I think that if time and money were not a constraint, it would be valuable for our high school juniors to take both the [PARCC] assessments and the ACT.”
The PARCC exam will test students’ knowledge against Common Core standards and will be administered to students in third through eleventh grade. Bradshaw said the PARCC exams cost roughly $44 million as opposed to the $14 million required for the ACT.
Though the PARCC test may not serve as a substitute for the ACT, Bradshaw said that it will act as a tool for teachers to measure student growth and as a way for school boards to hold districts accountable for student performance.
“Universally, it’s critical that the Common Core is [tested] because it sets a consistent bar to be able to know if we’re progressing in the way we should be,” said Bradshaw.
Though the PARCC exams are valuable, Bradshaw believes that they will not serve the same purpose for high school juniors as the ACT currently does.
“[The ACT] is the most efficient and convenient means for everybody if it continues to be paid for by the state and administered during the school day,” said Bradshaw. “In my mind, it’s foolish not to fund the ACT.”
According to Timothy Wierenga, District 203 Assistant Superintendent for Assessment and Analytics, the PARCC tests will be administered in two parts during the spring.
In March, students will take a performance-based assessment, which consists of math, English, and a student-produced essay. In late April, students will complete a multiple choice end-of-the-year assessment, which will be completed entirely online, Wierenga said.
Wierenga believes that both the PARCC and ACT are valuable in their own way.
“The ACT is essential because it provides all of our students the ability to see how they can do on an entrance exam for college,” Wierenga said. “But the PARCC assessments will help [students] build to that point.”
Salma Aldaas • Apr 5, 2014 at 2:37 pm
Is this seriously necessary? The ACT works fine, and we’ve been using it for college applications for years. The Parcc seems pointless, and means absolutely nothing to me. Plus, common core sucks. The teachers hate it, the parents hate it, and most importantly, the students hate it. We should have school officials represent us when it comes to making changes like this, and not some people in an official building somewhere in D.C.who have absolutely no idea of what the inside of a school looks like, seeing as how they haven’t even been inside one for about eighty years. How many standardized tests do we need? Plus, everyone is probably going to fail this test since we have had no preparation courses for it, and I don’t know about you guys, but I’m not too excited about being a common core guinea pig.
Anushka Rau • Mar 12, 2014 at 10:54 pm
I think having an ACT in school is extremely helpful to familiarize yourself with the test. The PARCC test isn’t one colleges look for, so I think a lot of kids would consider taking it futile. If we have to implement the PARCC, it would be a good idea to keep offering ACT resources at North as well.
Hannah Novak • Mar 12, 2014 at 10:45 pm
They need to consider the value to the student. If a student sees no value to themselves in taking the PARCC exams they won’t try as much, whereas the ACT is directly valuable. They can’t apply to very many schools without it- if the district wants to continue the trend if rising college application rates, tey should offer the free ACT instead of testing that doesn’t aid the student in any way.
Maggie McQuaid • Mar 12, 2014 at 10:30 pm
The first ACT I took was at the school-provided one at North. Being in a familiar environment helped me relax, and it turned out being my best score!
Luc Waked • Mar 12, 2014 at 10:09 pm
That said, standardized tests generally do not provide an accurate measurement of how well a person will do in college anyways.
People who have low ACT scores and good grades are more likely to do well in college than people with high ACT scores and low grades.
So with that knowledge in mind, I’m not a huge fan of the ACT, especially given its importance in our society.
Luc Waked • Mar 12, 2014 at 10:07 pm
I feel like schools should continue to provide ACT testing as long as colleges still require ACT scores.
Tests such as the ACT are not cheap, and providing them for free can definitely help a lot of families that may not be able to procure large amounts of money in one go.
I understand the appeal of the PARCC test, what with money and all that the schools have to spend, but which one is really more beneficial in the long run?