New ACT support

A new ACT prep class helps students prepare for standardized tests

Ritenour High School provides a plentiful amount of opportunities for their students to get a jump start. Ritenour has been partnered with the Kleitz Education Group (KEG) for over ten years to help already advanced students grow even more in the ACT prep program.

Kleitz Education Group is a tutoring program that focuses on smaller groups of students and helps them prepare and improve on standardized tests.

“We provide a more affordable opportunity for more students to get the help they need,” said Dan StuppRatican, the tutor who comes and helps students at Ritenour regularly.

KEG is used to provide extra one-on-one tutoring that teachers can’t always fulfill.

“While KEG offers this program to Ritenour School District at a significant discount, there is a fee for it, which is covered by the district so as to offer it for free to their strongest students,” says Alli Kleitz. “The program is offered to over two dozen schools in the St. Louis area but, only a couple of others receive discounts similar to Ritenour’s.”

Typically the course has 25 students each year getting prepped for the ACT out of a top 40 pick. They are picked based on their practice ACT scores and what math classes they have taken. This ensures the group of advanced studentswill have the same base set of knowledge so that there’s more time to focus on the individuals.

This is one reason that Stupp-Ratican likes working with the program so much.

“By tutoring and teaching small group courses I get to spend so much more time directly benefiting my students and working on the content they need help with,” Stupp-Ratican said.

Stupp-Ratican also enjoys the fact he gets a chance to show his students that they are capable of achieving their goals.

With the program, they handout several older ACT packets for students to practice with and learn to handle test anxiety and answer questions more efficiently. They also provide homework to study up on not only the material but to put the new strategies into effect.

When the idea of an additional six hours of homework added onto their weekly schedule, it causes students to stray away from the idea of this program. However, some students find it beneficial to them.

“I like how it’s forcing me to actually study and show me what to expect from the test,” junior Katie Kurtz said.