Colorado pushes change from ACT to SAT to spring 2017

An outcry from students, parents, teachers and administrators persuaded state education officials to postpone a switch from the ACT to SAT college entrance exams to spring 2017.State superintendents also urged the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) in a letter not to rush the transition to this spring.”I think this decision was more about timing than content,” Jeffco Superintendent Dan McMinimee said following the CDE’s Jan. 11 announcement that all Colorado juniors will still take the ACT this April. “There are kids that have been preparing for the ACT for a long time and three months beforehand you switch the test — that’s a challenge. “Tenth-graders, though, will take the PSAT, a practice test for the SAT, this March.A committee of 15 educators — urban and rural district administrators and one representative from the CDE — approved the switch from the ACT to the SAT in December in response to a bill passed last year aimed at reducing overall standardized testing.”The committee’s reasoning was in reaction to a desire to streamline state assessments,” said Dana Smith, interim communications director for the CDE. “It’s one small part of the overall solution to reduce testing.”Sophomores this year will only take the PSAT instead of the Partnership for Academic Readiness for College and Career (PARCC) and Colorado Measure of Academic Success (CMAS). Tenth-grade students were previously required to take both exams.Colorado began administering the ACT in 2001.Before the CDE postponed the change from the ACT to the SAT, Jeffco students worried they’d have to take both exams, Arvada West Counselor Rich Straub said. The also were concerned about being unprepared because they’d been studying for the ACT since last fall.”I had students coming to my office as soon as they heard about the switch saying, `Mr. Straub, why have I been studying this for so long if they were going to switch? What do I do?’ ” he said. “This newly formatted version of the SAT has yet to be administered. Not knowing the content or format of the test, what to study, what types of strategies to apply, I could easily see how this might cause some anxiety for students.” For Arvada West senior Jacob Woodward, who took the ACT last year, it’s not about what test you take, but how you approach it.”I’m not going to be here so I’m happy,” Woodward said. “If you pay attention to what the teachers are saying in class, then you’ll have a better chance at a better grade.”The department and the College Board, the vendor that contracts the PSAT and SAT, entered into a $ 14.8 million five-year contract in December to administer the SAT. Aware that school districts value long-term data associated with the tests, Smith said the CDE, the College Board and ACT are working together with districts to ensure the inforrmation on those who’ve taken, or will take, the ACT exam isn’t lost.To help students prepare for the PSAT and SAT, the College Board is offering a number of resources for parents and students, including a free test prep app, online practice tests, ability to review missed items and a customized learning plan.”The vendor made this very actionable for students to prepare and perform better on the SAT — they’ll know what to expect,” said Carol Eaton, executive director for Jeffco’s instructional data services department.But for this school year, timing was everything.”The SAT may be a great test, and it may be exactly what we need, but it just wasn’t the right timing,” McMinimee said. “That was the challenge.”