SHS proctors ACT Aspire online

Each year, Solon High School freshmen complete the ACT Aspire, a practice college readiness assessment. This test aims not only to provide test-taking experience but also a predicted range as to where students’ actual ACT scores will fall. For the first time in the school’s history, SHS decided to proctor the Oct. 14 ACT Aspire online utilizing the school’s Chromebooks.

“We wanted to frontload [our students] with information and skills on how to take tests on the computer,” said SHS guidance counselor Rick Nowak.

Nowak, as well as other guidance counselors and administration members, were first presented with the opportunity to implement an online ACT Aspire in 2013. However, they decided to wait two years before starting electronic testing in order to avoid possible issues.

“I’m glad that we opted not to do it the first year because from what [we were] hearing, there were many issues within schools throughout the area,” Nowak explained. “There were a lot of computer glitches, they didn’t have their site up and running very well [and] it wasn’t so computer friendly.”

Now, two years later, SHS began an unprecedented task: proctoring an online test. The feat not only necessitated numerous staff members who had to be trained on new proctoring procedures, but also an extensive Information Technology (IT) team led by Brynt Sines and including assistants from around the district. Additionally, because the test was online and utilized the school’s Wi-Fi, the testing areas themselves had to be strategically placed throughout the building so that the system wouldn’t crash during testing.

“I think it was very successful,” Nowak said. “This [was] a major operation that took a lot of people and a lot of effort.”

SHS principal Erin Short concurred with Nowak’s assessment, saying that the testing “went very, very smoothly.” Short was also a part of the decision-making team that chose to try out the online ACT Aspire and, while it was a group effort, she ultimately had the final say.

“We thought this would be a great way [to try the online test] where there would be nothing that could hurt our kids– it’s not a high stakes kind of test,” Short explained. “I’m not minimizing the Aspire, but it’s not like the real ACT. We didn’t want the first time testing the infrastructure of our technology to be when it counted as a graduation requirement for our kids.”

Short also mentioned that there were staff benefits to taking the test online: rather than in prior years, the teachers no longer had to assemble all of the hard copy tests and ship them back to be scored.

“All the work that has to be done afterwards when we collect paper and pencil tests can be overwhelming,” she said. “Here, you hit submit, and it’s done.”

While taking the Aspire online may be easier in some respects for staff members, SHS freshman Grace Gao believed that this test-taking format made the experience more difficult.

Gao explained that she found it challenging and a bit annoying to scroll and toggle through the website’s pages in order to look through the passages and check over her answers.

“For written tests, I could easily go look through my answers and all the questions.”

Nowak also found an issue with a different aspect of the online testing: typing. Proctors noticed that while students completed the writing portion of the test, which they took the following Monday in their English classrooms due to scheduling conflicts with the PSAT, they were utilizing only two fingers to write their responses.

“I sometimes worry about the kids with their computer skills for the writing component,” Nowak said. “If you’re a very good keyboard person, you can get the test done quickly. Is the test then measuring their true ability or are they being penalized because they don’t know how to type?”

The administration is currently considering district-wide keyboarding classes to combat this issue, focusing particularly on preparing students at Solon Middle School.

“I see in the future that state assessments will be more online, and as those [tests] are required online, we will put our students in a position where they can mimic that here at school so when they come to the high stakes tests, they’ll be prepared for it,” Short said. “Kids are much more flexible dealing with change than adults.”

As SHS awaits the return of the ACT Aspire scores in order to do a full evaluation of the success of their efforts, Nowak felt that the test overall was a great first effort, especially with the issues that had occurred in other schools that had attempted an online format.

“It was a monumental task; however, at the end of the day, I really think it’s going to help our kids in the future, and that’s why we did it.”