By Kelly Martinek
Seaholm Highlander
Seaholm HS
1st Place
Division 3, News Writing
News Story
Beginning in March 2016, public high schools across the state will administer the SAT instead of the ACT as their free, required college entrance exam.
Students will still take the ACT WorkKeys Exam, but the ACT, the college entrance portion of spring MME testing, will be replaced by the SAT. The switch most directly impacts current sophomores. This year’s juniors will still take the ACT during spring testing.
The decision was made primarily for financial reasons. According to Michigan Governor Rick Snyder’s website, the switch to the SAT will save the state $15.4 million dollars over three years.
“They’re saying that the Common Core aligns better with the SAT, but nobody’s really confirmed that,” Seaholm counselor Walt Romano said. “SAT outbid ACT, so I think the state saw this as a money-saver.”
Much of the concern over the switch comes from the time and money invested by students, teachers, and school administrators preparing for the ACT. Students have taken the ACT Explore in eighth grade and –up until this school year- – the ACT Plan in tenth grade. Now, Romano hopes they will take the PSAT to prepare for the SAT.
“That’s the plan,” he said. “We need to go back to providing [the PSAT] for all 10th graders and all 11th graders at no cost to students and families. That’s what we’re proposing so they’ll be better prepared for the SAT.”
Another challenge facing students preparing to take the SAT is that the exam is being completely redesigned for 2016.
“The SAT is being rewritten so there is a great deal we don’t know at this point,” Birmingham Public Schools superintendent Daniel Nerad said.
The College Board offers resources on their website, including a side-by-side comparison of the old and new SAT, but Romano says the adjustment will be a challenge.
“The state is working diligently to put out lesson plans and professional development materials so teachers can see how their curriculum aligns with SAT, but you have to remember the whole SAT is changing,” he said. “We don’t even know what that’s going to look like. So, none of us are really ready for it yet.”
Reactions to the switch among current sophomores are mixed.
“I’m very ecstatic,” sophomore Leah Warren said. “I’ve taken the SAT before and I didn’t think it was that bad, personally. I feel it’s easier to test on English than on math and science and I’m excited to have no writing portion and the SAT.”
For other students, though, the change is just another source of stress.
“The ACT switching to the SAT has just made everything more stressful because, up until last month, we have gone through school talking specifically about the ACT only,” sophomore Emily Nummer said.
Snyder’s “Frequently Asked Questions on Michigan’s switch from the ACT to the SAT,” aimed to assure students that there will not be a significant change in the college admissions process.
“Michigan colleges already accept and use the SAT for admissions decisions,” according to the website.
“In fact, 60,000 SAT scores were sent to Michigan universities last year and nearly 40% of the test scores sent to the University of Michigan were from the SAT. Michigan State University has said that there will not be any significant impacts on their admissions process because of the switch.”
Of course, none of this means that students can’t take the ACT if they wish. They just have to register for one of the national test dates and take it at a local testing center. Many students were already doing this, whether just to raise their scores, or to have a shot at both major college entrance exams.
“What they should do is take both, and then use the better score for their college admissions,” Romano said. “We’ve already recommended that but no one’s really taken us up on it.”
Nerad believes students will continue to succeed, despite the change.
“Our students will continue to have good results using this new assessment,” he said. “As we learn more, we will update our students, parents and staff.