From High School to the Future: ACT Preparation--Too Much, Too Late. Why ACT Scores Are Low in Chicago and What It Means for Schools

Autor/inn/en	Allensworth, Elaine; Correa, Macarena; Ponisciak, Steve
Institution	Consortium on Chicago School Research
Titel	From High School to the Future: ACT Preparation--Too Much, Too Late. Why ACT Scores Are Low in Chicago and What It Means for Schools
Quelle	(2008), (88 Seiten) PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Monographie
ISBN	978-0-9787383-9-6
Schlagwörter	College Bound Students; Test Coaching; Standards; Educational Change; Accountability; Scholarships; College Admission; Teaching Methods; College Entrance Examinations; Scores; Access to Education; Low Achievement; Skill Development; College Preparation; Articulation (Education); Learning Strategies; Instructional Effectiveness; Educational Strategies; Test Content; Test Wiseness; Longitudinal Studies; High Schools; Illinois; ACT Assessment + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Testverfahren; Standard; Bildungsreform; Verantwortung; Scholarship; Stipendium; Hochschulzugang; Hochschulzulassung; Zulassung; Teaching method; Lehrmethode; Unterrichtsmethode; Aufnahmeprüfung; Education; Access; Bildung; Zugang; Bildungszugang; Unterdurchschnittliche Leistung; Kompetenzentwicklung; Qualifikationsentwicklung; Articulation; Artikulation (Ling); Artikulation; Aussprache; Learning methode; Learning techniques; Lernmethode; Lernstrategie; Unterrichtserfolg; Lehrstrategie; Testaufgabe; Longitudinal study; Longitudinal method; Longitudinal methods; Längsschnittuntersuchung; High school; Oberschule; Assessment; Eignungsprüfung; Eignungstest
Abstract	The majority of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students are not attaining the ACT scores they are aiming for, which they need to qualify for scholarships and college acceptance. This report looks at the reasons behind students' low performance and what matters for doing well on this test. CPS students are highly motivated to do well on the ACT, and they are spending extraordinary amounts of time preparing for it. Most of the CPS students who took the ACT entered high school with eighth-grade test scores that met state standards and were on par with or better than state and national averages. However, the predominant ways in which students are preparing for the ACT are unlikely to help them do well on the test or to be ready for college-level work. Students are training for the ACT in a last-minute sprint focused on test practice, when the ACT requires years of hard work developing college-level skills. Key findings include: (1) Low ACT scores reflect poor alignment of standards from K-8 to high school and from high school to college; (2) Test strategies and item practice are not effective mechanisms for improving students' ACT scores; (3) ACT performance is directly related to students' performance in their courses; and (4) Incorporating the ACT into high school accountability is not an effective strategy for high school reform by itself, without accompanying strategies to work on instructional practice. Five appendixes include: (1) Sample ACT Questions; (2) Sample PLAN Exam Questions; (3) Content of ACT Math Subject Test as Described in the ACT Teachers' Manual; (4) Statistical Models; and (5) Survey Measures Used in Analyses. (Contains 90 endnotes, 30 figures, and 7 tables.) (ERIC).
Anmerkungen	Consortium on Chicago School Research. 1313 East 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637. Tel: 773-702-3364; Fax: 773-702-2010; Web site: http://www.consortium-chicago.org
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10