Despite Looming Deficit, West Virginia Invests in All Its Tenth Graders

“I tell anybody I come across that the PLAN test is by far the best test for kids in high school,” said George Washington High School Guidance Counselor Jim Scherr. “From my experience, it is the best standardized, external test that we give.”

Scherr cites the test’s career-planning features, its course information section, and its ability to predict a student’s future score on the ACT Assessment^®, which is taken in the senior year of high school, as major advantages. He also likes the fact that all three EPAS assessments—EXPLORE, PLAN, and the ACT Assessment—work together to help students.

“It’s a natural flow of academic intelligence,” he said. Scherr said his school in Kanawha County has chosen to use PLAN for the last ten to twelve years. This year, West Virginia decided all tenth graders at public schools would take the test, and any at private schools that request it, as well. The statewide administration is paid for by the state.

When West Virginia started looking at ways to strengthen its programs, which emphasize career planning and college readiness, a lot of educational leaders there already knew that PLAN was a good fit. “West Virginia is interested in continuing the use of EXPLORE as well as PLAN to assist our students in preparation for the ACT Assessment. West Virginia has created the Promise Scholarship Program for West Virginia students who have good grades and strong ACT Assessment scores. We want to provide every opportunity for our students to succeed in college,” said Dr. David Stewart, state superintendent of schools.

“PLAN is a unique, one of a kind assessment,” added Dr. Beth Cipoletti, an assessment coordinator with the state Department of Education. “One of the questions from the counties that had chosen to use it was, ‘Why isn’t this a part of the statewide assessment plan?’”

Cipoletti does not anticipate upcoming budget cuts will affect the statewide use of PLAN.

“West Virginia is focusing on getting more students ready to go to college. We have a very supportive legislature. They understand the importance of education,” she said.

By law, West Virginia high school students must declare a major area of study and a “career cluster” during high school. To graduate, they must take at least four courses in their declared major.

The interest inventories included in EXPLORE and PLAN help them narrow their choices.

“The tests help kids make decisions,” said Scherr. “They tie in with us very well.”

No less important is the tie-in with the state’s Promise Scholarship Program. Students must earn a composite score of 21 or higher on the ACT Assessment as well as a 3.0 grade point average in a set of core courses to qualify for a full-tuition scholarship to a West Virginia college or university. PLAN results can help students and teachers focus on areas that need work before students take the ACT Assessment.

“If the PLAN score indicates the ACT score will be lower than 21 and the student wants the Promise Scholarship, you’ve got an intervention point,” said ACT Assistant Vice President Eddie Pawlawski. “We can literally narrow that focus to those intervention points. If the student doesn’t appear to be on task, there are specific interventions that can be devised because you can define what the student doesn’t appear to be accomplishing in coursework.”

Teachers can use ACT’s Standards for Transition and Pathways for Transition to help make those interventions. The Standards for Transition clearly define the skills that students need to master to achieve specific score ranges on EPAS assessments. The Pathways for Transition describe activities to help bring students to the next level.

“The support material is outstanding,” said Cipoletti. “There are strategies that instructors and students can use to address strengths and weaknesses. You have your scores, but a number doesn’t mean anything. These materials let parents and students know what the numbers mean.”

The emphasis with PLAN is on helping prepare students for college or the workforce. “PLAN is not a part of our accountability system,” said Cipoletti. “Its role is to provide information to students, parents, teachers, districts, and the state on how well students are learning, basic information in the four content areas of the test. It gives information that compares a student’s performance to that of the norm group. It helps with career selection. It helps with the students’ planning for postsecondary education or joining the workforce. It helps students planning to go to college to understand their strengths and weaknesses. It helps counselors see what kind of match there is between students’ interests and the courses that they’re taking.”

“The state is doing this for a good reason. Not to pound the schools over the head with another accountability measure, but to provide some guidance to the schools to help identify those students that are close to, but still not mastering, certain academic skills, to help them move to the next level,” said Pawlawski.“ West Virginia is really following ACT’s model.”