ACT

ACT Announces Changes To Scoring

 

The Washington Post (6/6, Anderson) reports that ACT announced on Thursday that students “will face a more complex task if they choose to write an essay and will receive new scores for English language arts and the combined fields of science and mathematics.” The article reports that these and other changes “show the ACT is evolving as the rival SAT admissions test undergoes a major redesign that will debut in early 2016.”

College Board Announces SAT Overhaul

Education Week (3/12, Adams) continues coverage of the recent announcement that the College Board is redesigning the SAT to make “substantive shifts aimed at making the exam more ‘focused’ and ‘useful,’” noting that the overhaul “offers strong echoes of the Common Core State Standards, which board President David Coleman helped write.” The article notes that the change comes two years after rival test ACT “eclipsed” the SAT, and describes the “mixed” reaction to the announcement. Education Week reports that the Education Trust’s Christina L. Theokas “applauded the effort,” though Wake Forest University sociology professor Joseph Soares dismissed the changes as “a PR maneuver.”