In order to help students become more college or career ready, the administration plans to administer the ACCUPLACER diagnostic exam for students who fail to meet certain requirements concerning the PSAT and ECA. According to College Board, ACCUPLACER is a group of computerized tests that determines preparedness for college-level courses and is used to identify strengths and weaknesses in students to help improve their skills.

Assistant Principal Karen McDaniel, who is in charge of the administration of the test, said sophomores will have to take the ACCUPLACER diagnostic if they score a 41 or below on the critical reading and math sections of the PSAT or fail the Algebra I ECA, and juniors and seniors will have to take the exam if they score a 46 or below or fail the Algebra I or English 10 ECAs. These cut-offs were chosen based on what College Board says is a good score for a student to get on the PSAT that would make them college and career ready.

McDaniel said, “(The state) wants to break down even further specific areas that students might need remediation and specific areas in reading and in math and in college and career readiness. But a student only has to take that area where they may be deficient. And then once we go through whatever remediation we’ll do in order to help students, then they would then take that ACCUPLACER diagnostic again next winter to see if they’re at a point where they feel as though they are ready.”

Sophomore Micah Hoffbauer said she is in favor of the ACCUPLACER because it would be a better determinant of college and career readiness than the PSAT.

“I don’t think the PSAT is a good measure of critical reading or math. I’m in an advanced math class, and some of the problems on it I’d never seen before, and some of the English words I didn’t even know existed because you just don’t hear them every day or use them,” Hoffbauer said via email.

According to McDaniel, although the type of remediation students will receive has not been finalized yet, it may range anywhere from a web-based program to remediation through a student’s English or math courses the next year. Additionally, she said the cost of the test would be free since it is covered by the state.

McDaniel said, “Because the testing window is the end of January through the end of March, we will assess students this year, but if we find that a student isn’t college or career ready based on the determining factors, then we’ll start remediation next year.”

According to McDaniel, sophomores’ PSAT scores will still be taken into account when determining whether or not the student needs to take the ACCUPLACER, even though the PSAT only serves as a practice for them. However, the student may or may not have to continue with remediation after taking the ACCUPLACER.

“If (students) take the ACCUPLACER diagnostic and they score at a specific point value that they need to, then they don’t have to continue with remediation. So a student may not have taken the PSAT as seriously as they probably should have, because they didn’t score at that cutoff point. If they take that diagnostic and they score at a certain range, then they don’t have to do anything else.”