NeSA dropped in favor of ACT, challenges, benefits expected by staff

This spring, juniors across Nebraska will not be taking the Nebraska State Accountability tests in reading, mathematics, and science. Instead, students will take the ACT, as approved by the Nebraska Legislature. Legislative Bill 930, passed in April, requires public school juniors to take a college admission test, and, by Sept. 2, the Nebraska State Board of Education had decided to administer the ACT.

This is a major change; one that will have a huge impact on teachers and students at Central. Teachers and administrators are excited about the switch to ACT, but also acknowledge the challenges that will exist in the first year of testing.

The ACT tests students in their math, science, English and reading skills. These skills align with those tested by the NeSA, a reason for the choice of the ACT over the SAT. The Department Chairs in these areas all shared their opinions on the ACT and its impact on students, an impact that they agree will be substantial but overwhelmingly positive.

Science Department Chair Janis Elliott sees several advantages to the switch to the ACT, namely the quality of the ACT test and the improved data that can be gathered in order to improve teaching. “Certainly, the ACT has a history and so we have a longevity of results to compare to, and there is a consistency across the nation,” Elliott said, “The ACT will become a planning tool for staff and a curriculum enhancement tool to improve quality of instruction.”

English Department Chair Jodie Martinez also acknowledged the benefits of the ACT to instructors. “Already, I see that there has been a more fluid and natural delivery of curriculum on the part of the teachers. They are not stressing about this test that is coming up…it’s not intruding into the way that they’re structuring their lessons and the way they’re structuring the works that they’re teaching,” Martinez said. Thus, English teachers no longer need to worry about teaching specifically to the skills required for NeSA; since the ACT is a much different test teachers will be able to prepare students in a way that does not disrupt the normal flow of teaching.

Math Department Chair Brent Larson recognized the greater impact that the ACT will have on students when compared to NeSA. “It’s a useful test,” Larson said, “You know that if you do well on the ACT you can go and use it for anything you need for college.”

When asked about the different instructional demands of the ACT, the Department Chairs were not concerned. “In OPS and at Central High we already have standards based on state and national standards that are high quality, so we will continue to teach those standards…and we will, of course, prepare our students by including more data tables, graphs, and analysis of information that the ACT is rich with,” Elliott said.

Larson did, however, see a major difference between the NeSA math test and the ACT’s math section. The ACT encompasses material through trigonometry, and many of Central’s juniors are in Algebra 3-4. Instead of trying to teach new material, teachers will need to review trigonometry skills from geometry. “You can’t go through and give the students all of the material and have them do it halfway, we want them to be very strong with what they know and what they’ve seen,” Larson said.

The ACT test also has a specific time limit, unlike the untimed NeSA test, which will definitely impact students. Elliott, though sees this factor as a minor challenge, since students are already used to the length and rigor associated with timed final exams.

In addition, the ACT has something that the NeSA did not: more available test prep. “It has high-quality free test prep that the NeSA did not offer, there are many sources that our students and teachers can use to prepare for the exam,” Elliott said. Larson and Martinez agreed that it will be easy for teachers to switch to the new test preparation material. “Test prep can be done easily and in a concise way,” Martinez said.

There are, however, certain logistical challenges that exist with the switch. Christina Flaherty-Collings organized NeSA testing at Central last year and recognizes several issues that will need to be figured out across the district. Currently, it is unknown whether ACT testing will occur using paper and pencil or via an online platform. If it occurs online, there may be setbacks. “If we’ve got close to 500 kids all going onto the network at one time, then how is our wireless internet going to work?” Flaherty-Collings said, “It’s not just finding a place for almost 500 kids, it’s making sure that everything lines up so that they aren’t getting kicked out of tests.”

Testing logistics compared to the NeSA will be drastically different. For NeSA testing, the majority of juniors took the test over two days on the fourth floor, with two sets of juniors testing. The ACT on the other hand is a four to five-hour test. Since it is ideal to test as many juniors as possible at one time, administrators like Tom Wagner have been brainstorming ways to make this happen.

One idea that is on the table is a junior-only day to emphasize the importance of the test and create a proper testing environment. Wagner believes a junior-only day would work well because it would allow juniors to take the test in smaller rooms with a familiar, trained proctor, and not be interrupted by the noises of bells and passing periods. “It’s a high-stakes test and we need to treat is as such,” Wagner said.

However, there are certain issues that come with a junior-only day. “Should that high-stakes test for 600 students completely disrupt instruction for the other 1800 students during that day?” Wagner asked. He added that once the district gives its high schools more direction, the procedures for testing will become more clear.

Wagner and Flaherty-Colling also see potential changes in Central’s, and even statewide, standardized testing averages. “Not everyone is directly college-bound and the test is designed to test college readiness,” Martinez said. Flaherty-Colling echoed this, since some students who were not planning on taking the ACT or attending college may struggle with the test. “Our top performers are not going to be in the pool of people who do not see themselves as college-bound on average; there are always going to be outliers, there are incredibly gifted kids who choose not to take the ACT for a variety of reasons,” Flaherty-Colling said.

With more students taking the test, Wagner and Flaherty-Colling agreed that the average scores across the district and the state will drop. “When you decide [that] everybody in the district is going to take the ACT as opposed to just those that sign up for it, obviously the average score is going to go down, and it’s probably going to go down fairly significantly for the district,” Wagner said.

Despite the likely dip in statewide averages, the Department Chairs and administrators alike are excited about the fact that the ACT is a test used in college admissions. “Kids can really have good things happen by getting an extra test in for ACT and we want it to be not just a good reflection on Central but [we’re] really hoping that there are some kids who see that college is an option,” Flaherty-Collings said. There is agreement statewide that taking the ACT can only help students. “This might open the door for someone who didn’t think they were going to be doing college…maybe they take this test and see that there are some opportunities that are available,” Larson said.

Elliott added that a free administration of the ACT to students will remove the obstacle of the price of testing. Now, the first step on the path to college will be given to all students. Students can then assess which path after high school is right for them, whether it be a career, a two-year college or a four-year institution.

Teachers are enthusiastic about this switch, and believe that students should be just as excited. “Students and many adults didn’t necessarily recognize the importance of NeSA,” Wagner said, “NeSA wasn’t going to get you into college, NeSA wasn’t going to affect scholarship dollars, NeSA was something that the state used to rank schools.” The ACT is a nationally-recognized exam, one with real relevance that, teachers hope, will make college a possibility for even more students.