By Tesia Galvan
Staff Writer 

ACT program paying off for Worland High School

 

September 1, 2016



WORLAND – Worland High School started a voluntary ACT preparation program three years ago in an effort to improve ACT scores.

The program is paying off and Worland High School Principal Kevin Smith said, “Over the past five years we’ve improved as a district with our ACT scores.”

The ACT exam is a state mandated test used for college admission that tests students in math, English, reading and science. There is also a composite score for the four subjects.

Across the State of Wyoming, more than 5,800 students took the ACT exam and at Worland High School for the 2015 – 2016 school year 106 students were tested.

Washakie County School District No. 1 is ranked 18th in the state among 48 districts for the 2015 -2016 ACT composite score according to the Wyoming Department of Education and Smith said the preparation program “is obviously working and we hope to continue to improve.”

“It’s a lengthy process, but it’s a very worthy and efficient process. We’re pretty proud of where they’re at and … these results are because of the teacher’s efforts,” he added.

“Specifically last year’s juniors tested above the state average for all subjects and … all but one score is above the national average (the composite score of all four subjects),” Smith said.

Worland students tested 19.3 in English, the state average is 19.1; 20.3 in math, the state average is 19.7; 20.7 in reading, the state average is 20.5; 21 in science, the state average 20.4; and the composite score for Worland students in all four subjects is 20.4 and the state average is 20, according to Wyoming Department of Education Fusion website.

“They’re incredible scores,” Smith said, adding, “The prep testing is done during a student’s orange period, in a three-week rotation.”

The total program is 15 weeks, and the preparation program is voluntary because, “When you require something of this caliber the kids tend to turn the other way.

“When we get to the end of the first semester and we meet with the juniors and stress the importance of the (preparation).

What this does is it creates ownership and self-accountability. That’s the ultimate price because they know when they do well it wasn’t forced upon them. It kind of gives the kids a choice,” Smith said.

A lot of these kids will be college students and they know it’s mandated and a lot of them want to perform the best they can,” Smith said.

He added they get about 70 to 80 percent of the junior student body to participate in the program.

“It’s an effort of us to give them a boost. There’s a lot of anxiety related to the ACT exams … because there is a lot of scholarship opportunity attached to the ACT,” Smith said.

He said the teachers that teach the preparation course use the previous year’s release questions to practice with as well as a wide variety of other things.

“We want to continue to make it better. We look for different material to make it better for our kids,” Smith said.

 
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