An Investment in the Future of Oklahoma Students
Lawton Public Schools (LPS) received information from State Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister that the Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE) will invest $2.5 million dollars into public schools to ensure that sophomores, juniors, and seniors have the chance at earning and improving their score on the ACT, SAT, and PSAT this October.
“The pandemic has disrupted many students’ opportunities to take or re-take these valuable tests,” Hofmeister said. “We know that students who take the test more than once often improve their scores and, accordingly, their access to college. We are excited to offer them the chance to improve their score or set a baseline to improve upon this coming spring.”
Director of Accountability and Assessment at LPS, Joan Gabelmann, shares that the ACT/SAT test scores can be a major asset to students going to college, and, with the assistance from OSDE, these assets will remain available to many students and ensure that each student has an opportunity to fulfill federal and state testing requirements – an opportunity made possible by the prior elimination of seven end-of-instruction exams by the OSDE in 2016.
“Taking the state OK ACT in their junior year, as required by state mandate, gives students and teachers time to work together to strengthen student learning,” Gabelmann said. “Moreover, students who choose college as their post-secondary path, can utilize career readiness exams to gain entry to college, as college career scores are part of the college admissions decision process. Furthermore, college career exams help students gain financial aid for college.”
The OSDE is taking steps to make college readiness exams like the ACT/SAT and PSAT more accessible to high school students. Students are eligible for these tests based on their grade level. Sophomores and juniors are eligible for the PSAT, juniors and seniors are eligible for the SAT, and all except freshman are eligible for the ACT.
Students may take more than one assessment within an eligible grade but may not re-take the same exam during the fall testing opportunity.