T’bonne ‘doing something right’ on ACT tests

With the news last week that the ACT scores in Terrebonne parish had increased, local principals are celebrating, citing the efforts of the students, faculty and staffs of their schools with working hard to increase the scores on the national college entrance examination that measures competency in reading, science, mathematics and English.

Performance on the ACT can also determine scholarship amounts and in Louisiana, eligibility for awards under the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students. A score of 20 or higher will get students four years of paid tuition at a college or university; and a score of 17 or higher can get them two years tuition at a community college.

“My leadership team had already figured out that we had a large increase using raw data scores we received in May,” said Blaise Pellegrin, principal of Ellender Memorial High School. “When we shared it with our staff, it validated their efforts for the year and the time we used to address this issue.” ACT scores at Ellender for the last school year showed the most growth, according to Philip Martin, Terrebonne Parish’s school superintendent. The school with the most students scoring 18 or better was Terrebonne High.

Pellegrin said at Ellender Memorial, a school-wide goal was set, because last year only 39 percent of the seniors had earned an 18 or better. “We set a goal of 50 percent and made signs for all classrooms and large posters to post throughout the building. We also used several of our teachers to pullout for assistance with our seniors with a previous score of 16 or 17. We scheduled about 100 students, juniors and seniors, in an ACT prep class for the entire year. The efforts of the students and teachers were a huge factor in our success.”

The test is given annually to juniors and seniors, and students may take the test multiple times and only their highest score is counted.

In Terrebonne Parish, there is no cost to the students for the test. According to actstudent.org, the fees for test are $39.50 without the writing component and $59.50 with the writing component. The highest score on the test is 36.

The composite scores for Terrebonne Parish, according to data from the state Department of Education, showed that the composite score in the parish rose 1.3 points to 19.2.

Last year’s composite score was 17.9. This year’s state composite is 19.4, up .02 points, the state’s data shows. The national composite is 21.

The increase, according to Martin, “shows we are doing some things correctly and it’s due to our teachers’ hard work and our students’ commitment.” The test scores also show what areas need improvement, he added. He explained that some say claim the test is “not a correct application,” but, he said, it’s still what everybody takes and it’s what colleges use in admission standards.

The increased number of students scoring 18 or better last school year ranked Terrebonne Parish as fourth in the state in terms of growth, Martin said. The percentage of students who scored 18 or better increased overall by 9 percent, going from 52 percent of the test takers to 61 percent. That’s three times better than the state improvement number, Martin said. “We are very pleased and proud of that.”