Oct. 29--Students in Downers Grove Community High School District 99 might not be able to take the right test for college admissions if the state doesn't solve its budget impasse.
That revelation came to the fore during the school's board recent discussion of how students performed in 2015 on the ACT college readiness exam.
Gina Ziccardi, assistant superintendent of student learning and support services, said the state, which pays for one of the exams, has not yet let school districts know which one they will offer.
Because of the lack of certainty, Superintendent Mark McDonald said the district already has committed to offering the ACT no matter what happens at the state level. If the district offers the test, it will have to pay for it. It would cost about $70,000 to administer the ACT.
The district's ACT testing date is slated for April 17.
If the state pays for one of those tests, Ziccardi said the district has 30 days before that date to cancel its contract to offer the ACT.
"Hopefully, we'll find out long before that (which test to offer)," she said.
Board member Michael Davenport said he is concerned about the lack of certainty for students who are preparing for the ACT, but also may have to take the SAT, depending on what the state does.
"What a mess," he said. "Apparently there's not a whole lot more we can do in terms of commitments."
During her review of ACT test scores for last school year, Ziccardi said students were still well ahead of state averages, although scores dipped slightly in 2015.
The class of 2015 had an average ACT composite score of 22.6, down a bit from 22.8 for the 2014 graduating class. Those scores are better than the state average, which was 20.7 in 2015 and the national average, which was 21.
"We're still far exceeding the average for the state and the nation," Ziccardi said.
During the past three years, the percentage of students scoring a 19 or lower on the math portion of the ACT test has gone down from 34.4 to 29.1 percent in District 99. During that time, the number of students scoring a 20 or higher has increased from 65.6 percent to 70.9 percent.
For the reading portion of the ACT, 31.1 percent of students scored a 19 or lower in 2015.
"Our board goal is to increase not only enrollment (in AP courses), but the students taking the test," Ziccardi said.
The number of students taking Advanced Placement classes went up 7.1 percent during the past five years, and the number of students taking honors courses has gone up the same amount over that time.
The number of students in the graduating class taking Advanced Placement classes was 34.1 percent in 2015, compared to 21.6 percent of students a decade ago.
The number of Advanced Placement tests administered last year was 1,729. More than 82 percent of the scores were a 3, 4 or 5, which are needed to be considered for college credit.
amannion@tribpub.com
