Cherry Creek Schools superintendent urges parents to tell CDE: Switch to SAT ‘disruptive’

AURORA | A planned change across the state to make the SAT the state’s preferred college readiness assessment over the ACT is not being taken lightly by the top official at Cherry Creek Schools District.

Superintendent Dr. Harry Bull has drafted a letter to be sent to all Cherry Creek district families on Tuesday, Jan. 5, in which he says a move from the ACT to the SAT “could represent a disadvantage to all students.”

The change from the ACT to the SAT is due to be implemented this spring. Since 2001, the ACT has been Colorado’s statewide assessment for high school juniors.

Cherry Creek Schools has used the ACT as the main assessment for juniors’ readiness for post-secondary options for the past 14 years, and Superintendent Bull noted that the district has used the Aspire exam for students in grades three through 10 to better measure their “mastery of the concepts and skills” tested on the ACT. Bull also said the district had designed its 2021 initiative with the ACT in mind.

“This inclusive tool has become an important foundation for assessment across Colorado,” Bull wrote in the letter. “Indeed, everything about the statewide system to gauge college and career readiness has been built around the ACT exam.”

Bull expressed concern that many students and their families have spent time and money on private prep classes for the ACT and that any students opting to still take the ACT this spring will have to pay for it. Just as troubling, Bull says, is the likely unfamiliarity students will have with the SAT — about 16 percent of Cherry Creek students take the SAT each year, whereas about 98 percent took the ACT this past year.

“The stakes are high,” Bull wrote. “For many students across the district, this will be the only college admission test they ever take.”

In an interview Tuesday afternoon, Bull said that the sudden change poses a particular disadvantage for students in 11th grade who have been preparing to take the ACT this spring.

“My biggest issue right now is (with) this year’s juniors,” Bull said. “I’m going to fight like hell for those kids. They’ve worked really hard to get to where they are, and we ought to respect that.”

Bull concludes his letter with a call to action, urging parents and district residents to contact the office of interim state Education Commissioner Elliott Asp and the state Board of Education to sound off on the pending change. Richard Crandall is slated to replace Asp as commissioner later this month.

Bull said that he received an email from Asp late Monday night addressed to superintendents across the state outlining the possibility of a delayed rollout of the statewide SAT transition. Asp’s message stated that the board is mulling the possibility of allowing current high school juniors to still take the ACT this spring, while current sophomores would jump into the SAT system by taking a practice version of the entrance exam, the PSAT, according to Bull. The message went on to say that if the proposed grandfathering option were pursued, the full implementation of the SAT and PSAT system for all students wouldn’t take effect until next year.

“If they get to that point, it’s a reasonable, short-term response,” Bull said Tuesday. “But I would like it a lot better knowing that it’s definitive rather than speculative.” 

As of Tuesday afternoon, Bull said that response to his letter has been largely positive.

FULL TEXT OF SUPERINTENDENT BULL’S LETTER TO CHERRY CREEK SCHOOLS FAMILIES:

To the members of the Cherry Creek School District community,

On Dec. 23, 2015, officials from the Colorado Department of Education announced that beginning in the spring of 2016, the SAT will replace the ACT as the state assessment for college and career readiness for high school juniors. This abrupt change in long-held policy represents a sudden and serious shift for public education in Colorado, one that could represent a disadvantage to all students. I’d like to share some thoughts about the implications and possible consequences of the change.

For the past 14 years, the Cherry Creek School District has aligned its system of college and career preparation to the ACT test. The district’s implementation of the Aspire exam, a vertically aligned assessment that is designed to measure student performance across grade levels from grades 3 to 10, specifically measures students’ mastery of the concepts and skills from the ACT College and Career Readiness Standards. The ACT test has also helped guide the wide-ranging Cherry Creek School District 2021 initiative, an effort designed to best prepare future students for academic and career success.

The district has not acted alone in its use of the ACT to provide critical longitudinal data. Colorado has implemented the test since 2001 for similar purposes, and the assessment has become a critical way to gauge trends and measure student success over a long period of time. This inclusive tool has become an important foundation for assessment across Colorado. Indeed, everything about the statewide system to gauge college and career readiness has been built around the ACT exam.

With the CDE’s announcement, that’s set to change in three months. Students who have been preparing for the ACT exam for the entire 2015-16 school year or even for the majority of their secondary school years will suddenly have to face a completely new set of prospects for the spring. Students and families who have paid for private prep classes and exercises will now have to pay to take the ACT test in the spring.

Students who can’t afford to register and take the ACT test in the spring have an even more limited set of options. They’ll have to start anew, studying for a new version of the SAT test that’s never been seen before.

The stakes are high. For many students across the district, this will be the only college admission test they ever take.

This isn’t a matter of one test being better than another. Rather, our legitimate concerns have to do with student success and preparation. We’ve worked hard over many years to create an assessment that aligns with the larger academic system in Cherry Creek and the rest of the state. The ACT has become a benchmark at both levels, and such an unexpected change is set to be disruptive. To illustrate, think about these figures. In the past two years, only an average of about 16 percent of students in the Cherry Creek School District have taken the SAT test. In 2015, approximately 98 percent of high school juniors took the ACT exam.

For all of these reasons, the CDE’s decision is troubling. Even with the introduction of new state assessments – including PARCC, READ Act Literacy Assessment and CMAS Science and Social Studies – the ACT has been the ONLY statewide test that has a real impact on students’ academic records and future opportunities. Making this change at the figurative eleventh hour with only three months remaining before the exam will be a disadvantage to ALL students.

I urge you to contact the office of the State Commissioner of Education at 303-866-6646 or asp_e@cde.state.co.us to share your thoughts about this change. Email the state Board of Education at state.board@cde.state.co.us, and let members know that making students face such a sudden change is not acceptable.

Sincerely,

Harry C. Bull, Jr.