New Wyoming Mandate Connects Students to Scholarships, Higher Education Opportunities

Principal David Treick is determined to make tests meaningful to teachers and students at Wyoming’s Cody High School.

“Conversations about tests and scores take place beyond our counseling office. We meet with teachers and describe how scores fit into the big picture of preparing students for postsecondary success. We explain to students how their scores affect their future and what they can do to improve them,” said Treick.

Getting his message across is a little easier now that Wyoming students have more incentive to care about tests. Their scores are one of the criteria for a scholarship program that awards up to $1,600 per semester to students who attend a college in the state.

Eleventh-grade public school students in Wyoming can now take the ACT or WorkKeys as part of a new state mandate that links their test scores to a scholarship program.

Wyoming has joined the growing list of states requiring eleventh-grade public school students to take the ACT^® or WorkKeys^®. Students can take one of the tests at state expense. Both tests are given on the same day in early March, and a make-up date is offered later in the month.

A total of 5,548 juniors—nearly 92 percent—took the ACT and WorkKeys exams in the spring of 2008. The 2007–08 academic year marked the first time Wyoming offered the ACT and WorkKeys tests on a weekday in the schools. In the 2006–07 academic year, the state provided vouchers for all eleventh-grade students to take either the ACT on a national test date or WorkKeys at a community college. The state administers three WorkKeys tests: Locating Information, Reading for Information, and Applied Mathematics.

Any student who is considered a junior—including home-schooled students and private school students—can participate. While the state requires all public high school juniors to take one of the exams, parents whose students have an Individualized Education Plan can request an exemption.

An ACT or WorkKeys test score is one of several elements required for eligibility in the Hathaway Scholarship Program, which provides funding for postsecondary education in Wyoming. To qualify, students also must achieve a certain GPA and complete the state’s “success curriculum,” which includes specific requirements for courses in mathematics, language arts, science, social studies, and foreign language. Home-schooled students and those receiving a GED can also apply for the scholarships, and are exempt from the GPA requirement.

In the 2007–08 academic year, the state awarded 2,210 scholarships, according to Sean Moore, Hathaway Scholarship consultant, Wyoming Department of Education. Awards ranged from $800 to $1,600 per semester. The scholarships cover four semesters of study at a community college or eight semesters at a four-year college. The program is named for Stanley Knapp Hathaway, a former Wyoming governor and an advocate for education.

While Treick is pleased with his students’ average ACT Composite score (22.5), he encourages them to take the ACT again as seniors, especially if they need to raise their scores to meet Hathaway Scholarship requirements.

“We are focused on preparing students for the year after high school, the 13th year, regardless of their path—college, the military, or the workforce. Results of the ACT and WorkKeys tests help us to ensure that students are successful in their 13th year,” he said.

The school administers ACT’s tenth-grade college readiness assessment, PLAN^®, to help sophomores prepare for junior year. “We pay close attention to interest inventory results and use them to help guide students to the classes they should be taking,” said Karen Day, one of three school counselors at CHS, which enrolls approximately 700 students in grades nine through twelve.

The estimated ACT Composite score range provided on a student’s PLAN report is also beneficial. “Students who expect to go to college and to apply for a Hathaway Scholarship really appreciate having this information so they can plan their academic strategy accordingly,” she said.

Overall, Wyoming state officials are happy with the results of the first year of mandated testing.

“Usually Wyoming’s average ACT Composite score is above the national average. In 2008, our ACT Composite score dipped to the national average—21.1,” said the Department of Education’s Moore. “We’re pretty proud of that number, considering we now have students taking the ACT who traditionally would not have taken it.”

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