A Smarter Test
Steve Perry challenged ACT at the organization’s annual meeting: build a smarter test or risk becoming like a compass in a world of GPS.
Perry, founder and principal of Capital Preparatory Magnet School in Hartford, Connecticut, is on a mission to transform the nation’s schools into places that provide meaningful educational experiences for all students. Since its inception in 2004, Capital Prep, which is located in Hartford’s lowest-performing district, has sent 100 percent of its graduates to four-year colleges.
Steve Perry, founder and principal of Capital Preparatory Magnet School in Hartford, Connecticut, helps children who are growing up much like he did.
“If our objective is to ensure that more children go to college, then we have to look at what the barriers to college are,” said Perry. “I suggest ACT create a test or a portion of a test that proves over a certain period of time that a child can learn. If you continue to measure what children should know when you already know what they don’t know, you will continue to get the same results.”
As the meeting’s keynote speaker, Perry spoke candidly to ACT staff and invited guests about his experiences as a poor kid who grew up thinking he wasn’t smart. He now holds a doctorate degree, has written five books, and works with black and Latino students, many of whom think they aren’t smart either.
“The conversation we often have around intelligence is about who is smart and who isn’t smart,” said Perry. “Educators talk about the impact of poverty and parenting on a child’s ability to learn, and your test [the ACT® Test] has made it clear that in the United States, 75 percent of the children are not prepared for college. Does that mean that 75 percent of parents are bad, poor, or unwilling to push their children?”
There was a time in America when students from certain zip codes were considered to be smarter than others, he said. Alternative schools and programs are now proving that some poor and disadvantaged children, when placed in academic environments where expectations are high, can succeed.
“What if you (ACT) created a test that measured
what students can learn?”Steve Perry, ACT annual meeting speaker
“This conversation around intelligence is so important because what ACT does in so many ways seems to speak to intelligence. When someone does well on the ACT, we say that person is smart. But ACT needs to educate children as to what intelligence is and what it isn’t,” he said. “What we want to know is—can they learn?
“ACT can create a smarter test that would better prepare students for college. ACT does great work, and you have a phenomenal mission. I would like you to push yourselves closer to fulfilling the mission you’ve set out to do.”
April 3rd, 2013 at 7:02 pm
“Steve Perry challenged ACT at the organization’s annual meeting: build a smarter test or risk becoming like a compass in a world of GPS.”
The final question posed in the article – “This conversation around intelligence is so important because what ACT does in so many ways seems to speak to intelligence. When someone does well on the ACT, we say that person is smart. But ACT needs to educate children as to what intelligence is and what it isn’t,” he said. “What we want to know is—can they learn?…” The speaker, Steve Perry, is founder and principal of Capital Preparatory Magnet School in Hartford, Connecticut.
My question is this – by the time most students take the ACT, college (or the transition to self-sufficiency – college bound or not) is around the corner. The ACT, like the SAT, can be used as a measure of what the students have learned. After all, if the student has potential to learn, and even if we wanted an ACT test to measure that – should they have done so (i.e., learned) by now? At what point is something required from a student’s potential? Shouldn’t it be by the time students are almost done with high school?
This is another example where it may be test results are inappropriately applied.
It is true – no child should be told they can’t learn – or they are not smart. Intelligence or “smartness” often is not correlated with academic excellence. Not everyone excels in academics, and that is fine. Students’ whole scholastic record should reflect that – with grades, test results, extra-curricula activities, as well as reference letters and guidance counselors’ notes. Regardless of academic bent or post high school plans, teachers should be patiently working with students and encouraging them as they achieve some minimum level of proficiency in the disciplines. It should be ok that a minimum proficiency is not an above- average score – but a lowest acceptable standard – just that – with the understanding this test measures academic knowledge in a particular way – and that is how the test result should be used.
The speaker highlights difficulties of minorities – a real, complex and difficult problem in American schools. The language barrier, if present, needs to be aggressively addressed – and early, since the ACT is offered only in English. And, regardless of heritage, the minimum score should NOT be a goal for anyone. Teachers and students alike should work hard to exceed that minimum. Students have got to WANT to succeed and have some self-motivation. Even great teachers, who can only encourage students towards self-discipline, dedication and persistence in schoolwork, and great schools (and the Capital Preparatory Magnet School looks like one of them!) cannot supply that for them.
I applaud the speaker for challenging the test to rise to new levels – we should always want improvement. The danger in these discussions is that shortcomings of the test often identified are actually not largely shortcomings of the test at all – but how the results are applied, and often something much deeper than that. The speaker refers to students achieving more when placed in academic institutions were expectations are high. Kudos. What can be done to have students set their own expectations even when not in such a place? I believe that answer will have nothing to do with the test.
Potential to learn? That’s a great thing – and I think each in his or her own way, we all have potential. But at some point, potential has to be translated to something, for it to be worth anything. The challenge of any test is that it appropriately measures what it wants to measure, and the results are used in a constructive way. For the ACT, it is entirely appropriate that what is tested is the application of knowledge. As to how the results are used – that is another discussion!