Inklings may 2013

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Crown Point High School 1500 S. Main St.

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May 31, 2013

Crown Point, IN 46307

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Vol. 77 Issue 9

inklings@cps.k12.in.us

Indy 500 Indianapolis 500 filled with passes, closest competition sport has seen in years More about the race on page 10

photo by amy schuch

Pencil-and-paper tests, like the one above, may be scarce in the near future. The ACT organization will be replacing its Plan and Explore tests with one test, the ACT Aspire, which will be exclusively online. In addition, the ACT exam itself will feature an online option starting in 2015; this may be the first of many standardized tests to go online.

STANDARDIZED TESTs to TAKE DIGITAL TURN

c.

1) Alabama was the

With the ACT Aspire bweing exclusively online as of the spring of 2014, standardized tests may be offered online

a.

BY DYLAN TAYLOR

managing editor

May, more than any other month, is cramped with high-stakes assessments—ECAs, APs, ACTs, SATs—all names that strike fear into the hearts of many students. Despite petitions, protests or general disdain across the nation, state and university trends have placed increasing weight and academic importance on these tests, and for most college-bound students, the margin scratch work, fillable circles and pencil-cramped hands of the testing season have become an accepted reality. This reality, however, may become a thing of the past. Many assessments across the nation, such as the ISTEP+ in Indiana, have moved from paper to the computer. Principal Chip Pettit sees this as a trend that is here to stay. “Students will definitely become accustomed to taking exams online,” Pettit said. In fact, the digital testing trend is not far from affecting high school students. In the spring of 2014, the ACT organization will be replacing the Explore and the Plan, pre-ACT

tests for eighth graders and 10th graders respectively, with a single test—the ACT Aspire— a test that, in its current form, will only be available online. “The Explore and Plan series is going away in the spring of 2014, and ACT is replacing it with a new product called Aspire, a K-12 longitudinal testing program,” principal Chip Pettit said. “It will all be computerized.” The ACT Aspire will also offer standardized testing starting at grade three. Assistant principal Robert McDermott attributes this to the statistical possibility of gauging college readiness as early as elementary school. “Aspire is going to be replacing (the Explore and the Plan) as well as adding to them; it is .going to be a 3rd grade through 10th grade test,” McDermott said. “(The ACT’s) research says that, believe it or not, we can begin tracking college readiness by the 3rd grade level. If you know what skills a 10th grader needs to be college ready, I suppose you could use the same criteria 10th and 9th grade down and start using that data to begin justifying changes in curriculum all around.” In addition to these changes, the organi-

zation’s flagship test, the ACT, will feature an online option as of 2015. The ACT Aspire, however, will exclusively be available online. “It has to be done on the computer. We asked the specific technical requirements, but they (ACT) have not released those yet. I’m glad that it’s online because otherwise it’s an awful lot of paper to deal with, but being online poses its own issues as well,” McDermott said. McDermott’s concerns may not be unfounded. Online testing has failed or malfunctioned in numerous high-stakes situations, notably apparent in the computer glitches and connection failures that plagued students taking the ISTEP+ test online this month. McDermott emphasizes administrative caution in implementing new online testing systems, citing logistic difficulties and issues for test takers themselves. “I think we would really have to look closely at the technological requirements and

B.

See Testing on page 3

Feature

News Pop, lock and stock it Student bands perform at Foodstock for charity

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testing quick hits

first state to institute the ACT Aspire test as an official assessment, ACT confirmed.

2)

After a server crash, computerized ISTEP+ results were delayed until July, Indiana Public Media reported.

3)

The US spent $1.7 billion on standardized tests last year, the Huffington Post reported.

4)

According to ACT, 1.7 million students took the ACT test last year.

5)

“Anecdotal evidence is that students prefer (computerized tests),” ACT president Jon Erickson told the New York Times.

A&E

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page 9

Jazz age or Jay-Z age? Read on to see if modern touches in “Gatsby” work

page 12


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