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Sophomore Parent Meeting Amy Piazzon Collegiate Counselor Shrine High School 3/5/15 Sophomore Parent Knight Your cherub is ½ way though with his/her evaluable grades for the application process! Shocking but true! 3/5/15 Sophomore Parent Knight • A little history on standardized testing – In the Dark Ages- Colleges/Universities were test specific: Ex: Indiana- SAT vs Michigan ACT Coasts were predominately SAT vs middle America veered toward the ACT – Early 90’s colleges were less specific about which test they favored. Most schools accepted both. 3/5/15 Sophomore Parent Knight – 2005 “optional” writing component added to both ACT and SAT. – 2006 concordances published for colleges to equate ACT /SAT scores – 2011 First time ACT surpassed SAT in market share for standardized testing. 3/5/15 Sophomore Parent Knight ACT/MME/ Promise Award in Michigan – MME - 3 day standardized test sequence mandated in Michigan public schools. – Day 1 of MME: Free ACT – Prior to 2011, Promise scholarship made MME appealing to private and parochial schools – 2011 Promise reward was revoked resulting in most parochial/privates withdrawing participation. 15 Sophomore Parent Knight MME at Shrine – 2011-2014- Shrine continued to proctor the MME for the free ACT and opportunity to simultaneously test the entire class – Negative of the MME - 3 days of missed instructional time and 120 minutes of pre-testing “bubbling” for registering – Spring of 2014, Shrine decides to forgo MME due to increased lost curriculum time and gut feeling that something was awry with the “free standardized test.” 3/5/15 Sophomore Parent Knight What this really means for you – Responsibility shifts to the family to register for standardized tests. You are quite capable! • ACTstudent.org • Collegeboard.org – Testing proctored on a Saturday-not a school day. – Accommodations are solicited by the family and verified by a school official 3/5/15 Sophomore Parent Knight ACT vs SAT – Both are standardized admissions tests accepted universally and interchangeably by colleges and universities ACT – Comprised of 4 subsections and a writing section • • • • English, Math, Science, and Reading Composite score is an average of the subsections High score is 36 in each section/ 12 in the writing section There are 6 test dates annually: Sept*, Oct*, Dec, February*, April, and June* - * proctored at Shrine High School 3/5/15 Sophomore Parent Knight SAT • Multiple smaller sections, but main scoring divisions are critical reading, math and writing. • Scoring ranges from 200-800 for a max score of 2400, but the primary evaluable scores are the critical reading and mathematics sections which have a combined max score of 1600. • SATs are offered in: Jan, March, May, June, Oct, Nov, and December • Currently Shrine is not a national testing site for the SAT 3/5/15 Sophomore Parent Knight SAT – Recent Announcement by the press that the State of Michigan is now an “SAT State” has no bearing on your cherub’s standardized test options. This is a reference to the free SAT offered as part of the MME. – Change was a financial decision. Rumors are circulating that SAT underbid ACT by $15 Million . ACT actually tried to appeal the decision. – Business decision for the state: war for market share within a multi-million dollar industry – Rumor has it that it is a one year contract 3/5/15 Sophomore Parent Knight Previous Standardized Test Schedule at SHS 8th Explore- Pre-ACT 9th Plan- Pre-ACT 10th PSAT 11th PSAT- National Merit Scholarship consideration New Test Schedule 8th HSPT 9th Aspire- ACT’s newest pre-ACT format 10th PSAT 11th PSAT-National Merit Scholarship consideration Thus, our students are exposed to both test platforms prior to the Junior/Senior testing window 3/5/15 Sophomore Parent Knight • As if this wasn’t confusing enough…… The Class of 2017 will be the first class exposed to the Redesigned SAT which will launch in the March of 2016 Launch Dates March 2015- Free PSAT available on line May 2015-Khan Academy will have free PSAT, review and lessons for the new SAT October 14, 2015- National Test Date for New PSAT (which is the evaluable test for the National Merit Awards) November 2015- KHAN academy offers free customized SAT practice and review for students who upload their PSAT scores into their system March of 2016 –1st administration of new SAT 3/5/15 Sophomore Parent Knight Basic Changes to SAT -Redesigned to align with Common Core Curriculum 8 key changes: -relevant words in context -command of evidence -essay analyzing a source -math focusing on three key areas -problems grounded in real-world contexts -analysis in science and social studies -founding documents and global conversation -no penalty for wrong answers 3/5/15 Sophomore Parent Knight Deliveringoppotunities.org Offers 204 pages of explanation of changes Provides full test specifications-including the exact number of questions per section College Board’s attempt to be very transparent about the test content and the rational for the changes 3/5/15 Sophomore Parent Knight • • • • • Test Fees ACT+ Writing- $54.50 ACT No Writing-$38.00 SAT+ Writing-$54.50 SAT No Writing $43.00 Both ACT and SAT offer fee waivers for students who meet NACAC requirements 3/5/15 Sophomore Parent Knight • Students who qualify for an SAT fee waiver will automatically receive 4 college application fee waivers uploaded to their SAT account. 3/5/15 Sophomore Parent Knight Summary -The standardized testing environment is rapidly changing and will continue to change. -The best recipe for success is a challenging college preparatory curriculum -Shrine students will continue to be exposed to both test platforms -Students can take either or both tests for college admission consideration. THEY ARE VIEWED EQUALLY, but some students test more favorably on one of the formats -The Class of 2017 will all experience the new PSAT and SATBurden of assessing those scores will fall to the Collegiate Admissions Counselors- concordances are being developed. Standardized tests are only one factor in a holistic admissions 3/5/15 review.