High school juniors in Aiken County and across South Carolina will take two new tests, ACT and ACT WorkKeys, this month to replace the exit exam that students had been required to pass to obtain a state diploma for almost 30 years.
ACT measures college readiness and ACT WorkKeys job readiness. The tests are considered more useful to the success of students, who can use their scores on college admissions applications or on work resumes to apply for jobs. The test will be administered on two consecutive days: the ACT on April 28 and the ACT WorkKeys on April 29.
"The trend now nationwide is to prepare students for college or career and sometimes college and career," said Dr. Randy Stowe, the director for administrative services for the Aiken County Public School District. "What better way to do that than to have students take a college entrance test and a career or vocational-type test?"
Besides the requirement for graduation, the biggest difference between the former exit exam, the High School Assessment Program, and the ACT and ACT WorkKeys is that the new tests will be timed. The series of tests will take about four-and-a-half hours each day for students to complete, not including preparation and breaks.
"There's going to be a fatigue factor, especially on the second day when they take WorkKeys," Stowe said.
"Many parents have expressed concerns about the change, and it is requiring teachers to teach writing for the ACT writing test, for example, in a different way, with less emphasis on first drafts and rewriting and more on quick writing," Stowe said.
Parents also are concerned because the ACT and ACT WorkKeys are different from the kinds of assessment tests students have taken in the past, Stowe said. They do not strictly measure student performance against a fixed set of predetermined learning standards, he said.
"It's a big change. We're going to a different kind of test," Stowe said. "The ACT is a very respected college entrance exam, and every student will be taking it; but is every student prepared to take a high-level, college-entrance exam? Specifically, are the students who are not taking a college-prep curriculum prepared to take that test?"
The test results will be reported differently, too, Stowe said. "Parents are familiar with the Met, Not Met and Exemplary summary scores provided by our previous criterion-referenced tests," he said. "Results on the ACT will be reported as a number between 1 and 36 for each subtest and an average composite score. WorkKeys provides a certificate rating. The schools will provide materials to help parents understand the new scores, and the counselors will be available to answer any questions they have."
The ACT
The ACT, which many students have taken for years for college entrance, assesses essential skills and knowledge students need to know to be ready for college.
In addition to the writing test, the ACT consists of four multiple-choice, timed tests in English, mathematics, reading and science.
Classroom teachers are helping students prepare for the ACT by covering the standards specific to their content areas.
"The ACT has also set up an online test prep tool where students can take subject-specific practice tests and get feedback," said Martha Messick, an assistant principal at South Aiken High School. "Student accounts for these (tests) will be provided to students free."
High school juniors can use their ACT scores to apply for colleges, scholarships and financial aid. Students who were not planning to attend college might discover that they are college-ready based on their scores and might consider other choices for their futures.
ACT WorkKeys
ACT WorkKeys evaluates students for career readiness. Students will take three timed tests: reading for information, locating information and applied mathematics.
The tests are challenging, said Allison Cubbage Crow, director of guidance at the Aiken County Career and Technology Center, where students have taken the assessment for many years.
"Locating Information is a very tough test," Crow said. "Students can't just read a passage and answer some questions. They will have to examine what they've read and do some critical thinking. It is a little bit different compared to other assessments the District has done in the past. It really does help students understand what they will have to do in a job environment to work though any challenge that might arise."
Students who successfully complete the three assessments also can earn a National Career Readiness Certificate based on their scores. Certification is provided in platinum, gold, silver and bronze levels. The certificate students earn indicates whether they are ready to work in up to 99 percent of jobs in the WorkKeys database.
"At the Career Center, for example, we use WorkKeys to measure our students' skills - whether it's welding or automotive - ahead of time, so that when they leave us, they can have something in hand that they can take to an employer and say, 'I already have experience in this area; I already have this skill level, so you can take me into this position immediately,'" Crow said.
Doing well on ACT WorkKeys and earning the highest level certificate possible can help high school students find summer and part-time jobs and internships.
More than 1,500 employers throughout South Carolina recognize the certificate, and companies and industries around the country use WorkKeys certificates in hiring.
Stowe called WorkKeys an "up and coming" employment credential.
"They're calling it a portable employment credential," he said. "My understanding is that some of the big industries won't even talk to you in terms of a job unless you have WorkKeys scores. It makes sense that we would start encouraging students to take it."
In addition to the ACT and ACT WorkKeys, students taking English I, algebra I, biology and U.S. history will continue to take an end-of-course test as the final exam in those classes, Stowe said.
An Aiken native, Larry Wood is a general assignment reporter. He joined the Aiken Standard in September 2014.