The ACT is the test of choice at Evanston Township High School, and school administrators are making changes to help students achieve higher scores.
The ETHS school board voted 4-2 Monday night to move the PSAT to a Saturday, effectively making it optional, and replace the exam with a required ACT practice test for juniors on a designated day during the school week.
Judith Levinson, director of research and evaluation at ETHS, backed by District 202 Superintendent Allan Alson, recommended the change over a compromise plan that would have left the PSAT during the school week and required sophomores to take a practice ACT in the spring.
The compromise plan did not allow for immediate feedback and had students taking the exam a year before they are expected to take the actual ACT, Levinson said.
School Board Member Rachel Hayman favored the compromise, saying she was worried students would not come on a Saturday to take the PSAT.
But student representative Daniel Esrigsaid he spoke with many students who indicated they would still take the PSAT, even if it was administered during the weekend.
During the meeting, ETHS junior Chasity Cooper asked the board to bring back the fall season for the Pom Kits, the school dance team.
Cooper, backed by seven Pom Kits, said the Pom Kits used to have fall and winter seasons, but budget cuts for the current school year meant the end of the Pom Kits performing at fall pep rallies and football games.
The request opened up a debate about the loss of programs due to athletic budget cuts worth $90,000.
School Board Member Martha Burns, whose daughter was once a Pom Kit, said the board should take a look at options that were previously discussed, including raising student fees, to help reinstate cut programs.
The decision to cut programs is always difficult, Alson said, adding that the priority is to put money into increasing teaching positions in order to decrease class sizes.
Also during the meeting, math department chairwoman Gena Brelias and four teachers presented a report on Agile Mind, a Web-based program implemented in all introductory algebra classes during the current school year.
“For the most part, (Agile Mind has) gone very smoothly,” Brelias said.
Agile Mind is part of a revamped Algebra I curriculum focused on teaching big ideas, requiring more noncalculator problems for students to solve, training teachers and utilizing upper-level algebra students as tutors to assist those struggling in introductory courses, Brelias said.
The computer program’s animation keeps students engaged while providing a context for each topic covered, math teacher Aurelia Milam said.
The report included data from tests and surveys of students and teachers that show students did better on rigorous semester exams and were more interested in math after participation in the program for a semester.
But students did say they needed more help with test preparation.
Algebra teacher Margaret Petrof said teachers in these classes are working to teach students how to study and review material effectively.
The data also showed students who took Algebra I as a double period did not do as well as students who took the class as a single period.
Double-period teacher Jamilah Wool said the students taking algebra for back-to-back periods entered the class with lower achievement scores than those in the single-period classes and therefore were making progress but from a different starting point.
“We reach kids where they are and gradually pull them up,” Wool said.
Overall, Brelias said the program is still “far from where we want it to be, but we are on the right path.”
Reach Anna Prior at [email protected].
