Potential Magazine Winter 2015 - Georgia Edition | Page 11

wise words yearly assessment ACT ASPIRE EXAM DRIVES PERFORMANCE By Thomas Rains By now, Alabama public school parents should have received their child’s ACT Aspire test score. The scores look different from what we are used to, but that’s okay, so is the exam. The ACT Aspire is the state’s annual assessment given to 3rd through 8th grade students, and to 10th grade students during the last few weeks of school. Next Spring will be the third year that students have taken the ACT Aspire instead of the Alabama Reading and Math Test. The switch is part of the Plan 2020 effort led by the Alabama State Board of Education to raise graduation rates, close the achievement gap, and increase college-and career-readiness with the use of higher-quality assessments to measure our student’s learning. Here are three things that you need to know about the ACT Aspire: 1) The ACT Aspire is more demanding than the Alabama Reading and Math Test: The Aspire requires students to think more critically, show their work, and explain their answers through short essays and other methods. “ I CANNOT HELP MY CHILD WITH THEIR HOMEWORK.. " 2) The ACT Aspire is a more honest assessment of how your child is learning: The ACT Aspire exam is based on Alabama’s College and Career Ready Standards, which sets clear and consistent expectations for what a student is supposed to learn in each grade. Rather than focusing on a score, the ACT Aspire helps parents and teachers see how well students understand what we are teaching. 3) The ACT Aspire will help teachers tailor instruction to your child: Whether students are excelling at a faster pace than their peers or need additional help to get on the right track, the ACT Aspire enables teachers and parents to personalize instruction for individual students that will help them stay motivated and on course to graduate on time and be ready for real-life. Still have questions? Ask your child’s teacher for a parent-teacher conference to discuss his/her ACT Aspire scores and what he/she needs to do to remain on track. Thomas Rains is the policy director for A+ Education Partnership. Learn more at http://www.aplusala.org/. THE HOMEWORK HELP DESK Students are learning new concepts and strategies in the classroom, which means parents are too. Homework Help Desk has worked to identify the new concepts that parents a