Kentucky teachers feel ACT changes are shortchanging students

BARBOURVILLE, Ky. ( FOX 56 ) — The ACT college entrance exam will undergo major changes next year, the most significant changes in its 60-year history.

Similar to the SAT, high school students have taken the ACT exam for decades, hoping to tip the scales for college admissions offices. But next year, two big changes are coming to the exam.

For the first time, the science and writing portions of the test will be optional. In addition, the English, reading, and math sections will be shorter. Eliminating those extra questions will take the test from three hours down to two hours.

Janet Godwin, CEO of the ACT said the changes to the exam are designed to give students more time to thoughtfully answer each question. However, some teachers fear that taking away the science portion of the exam will leave colleges without a full picture of the student they’re choosing.

“I feel that the science section is basically set up to gauge a student’s understanding of text and graphs, kind of like infographics, right, which is a skill that we need throughout life. So, in order for a student to be able to be successful, I feel like, especially now with the way social media and other things have taken over, that’s something they need to be fluent in,” said Barbourville High School science teacher Kim Smith. “Most of the time, the answers are in the text itself, in one of the graphs or charts and you basically have to find it and answer the question, or you might have to extrapolate some information, which are all important skills. Those are things that we all need to be able to do, no matter our age, no matter the time or place we’re at. We’re inundated daily with things, especially like look back at the COVID pandemic. They put out graphs and charts all the time showing the upswing and the rise in the fall of the reported cases.”

The decision comes as test scores are slipping. A report in the fall of last year showed average scores had fallen for a sixth consecutive year. The average composite score for the class of 2023 was 19.5, down from 19.8 for the class of 2022.

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“I feel like we can allow students to play to their strengths, but that doesn’t necessarily develop the whole student and by shortchanging them, sometimes I think we allow them to miss out on opportunities that they would discover if they were given the opportunity,” said Smith. “Making anything optional that I see is beneficial is not necessarily a good thing. I feel like we’re lowering the expectations for our children instead of pushing them to reach their full potential.”

The changes, along with other modifications, will roll out in spring 2025 for national online testing, and then in spring 2026 for school-day testing.

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