A bill relating to the administration of ACT and SAT tests to the state’s 11th grade students came before Senate Education Tuesday.
Following consideration of Senate Bill 624 members motioned to report the proposed legislation to the full Senate with the recommendation that it shall pass. Associate State Superintendent of Schools, Clayton Burch, also came before the committee to answer questions concerning the bill.
Sen. Richard Plymale, D-Wayne, opened discussion by asking how the proposed legislation would impact the state’s implementation of the Students Succeed Act. Burch explained that in addition to providing another way to tests students, the bill would also give local county boards the ability to request for another test to be implemented in the district.
According to Burch, the ACT is currently the most common test among students in West Virginia but if the SAT were to be implemented in a district, the state could still extract vital data from either test scores. Looking to the future, Burch stated that the ultimate goal of the legislation is to create a way to better understand the types of classes that grade 11 students should take during their senior year.
Burch also mentioned that both the ACT and SAT had worked very closely with the state and has “jumped through many hoops” to help the counties.
Following discussion of the legislation, Sen. Rollan Roberts, R-Raleigh, closed debate by urging that the bill only allow for one test to be administered.
“I think this is a valuable tool but we should be comparing apples to apples,” Roberts said. “This may hinder out ability to compare results but I like the ability of this bill to raise the bar. I think that’s very important for us.”
Ultimately, the committee substitute which allows for either test was reported to the Senate.
