The ACT scores of our students are not only making the charts, they are keeping up with top competitors.
Matt Strom, Director of Research and Accountability in the Chandler Unified School District (CUSD) says, “ACT scores provide the district and schools with several measurements that help us gauge our effectiveness.”
CUSD provides the money to pay for a test for each student of the junior class. “[The test] compares kids that are forced to take it to kids that choose to take it,” Serrano says.
Most students enrolled in other schools across the nation do not get this opportunity. The students that take the test are the ambitious students that can also afford it.
“Most of these other districts have a self-selected pool of test takers which consist of a biased sample from the elite students at school,” Strom says.
Given that Perry’s entire junior population is being compared to only the more motivated students at other schools, it provides a picture of how the school’s students, as a whole, compare to the national level. This picture can be a bit muddled, since Perry’s ACT scores comprise of every junior’s scores, and not only a specific number of students, such as it is at other schools.
“Our administration of the test to 100 percent of our students makes comparisons to other districts in the state and in the nation quite difficult,” Strom says.
The ACT test also compares how college-ready students are.
Strom says, “Established by researchers at ACT, we know that 65 percent of the seniors at Perry this year are college-ready in English. Based on a similar college readiness cut scores in mathematics, 46 percent of the seniors at Perry are college ready in mathematics.”
Compared to other schools, many students here are ahead of the game, yet, Perry does not offer much preparation for the test.
“In my opinion, I really think the students should take the initiative and go through the booklet themselves,” Senior Chelby Johnson says, “but for students who have a hard time with self-motivation, I would probably give the opportunity for review sessions to go over anything they might need help with.”
