BY MILES LAYTON
Imagine you’re a high school junior taking the ACT, an important standardized test used for college admissions, when BOOM – the test shuts down for technical issues. Really, you had been preparing for that test for weeks and knew that a good score would get you into top colleges, perhaps UNC, East Carolina University or Virginia Military Institute, but since you didn’t finish the test, now what?
That happened Tuesday morning at John A. Holmes High School – other high schools across the state too — when students taking the ACT were asked to put down their pencils about a quarter of the way through the 4-hours of testing because of a statewide computer glitch.
“We understand the significance of this test for our students, parents, and the school’s accountability framework,” Edenton-Chowan Schools Superintendent Tammi Ward said. “While the incident was not due to any issues with our district’s technology or test administration, our administrators, teachers, and students adapted well.”
Ward said ACT testing issues were widespread across the state because of technical issues with the ACT testing software. She said because of that, it was recommended that schools cease online testing for the day.
“NC Department of Public Instruction and ACT are working together on the testing issues,” Ward said. “We are waiting on a detailed statement of options from ACT and the steps of how schools can proceed.”
Every high school junior in North Carolina takes the ACT, which is the basis for college admissions even more so than the SAT these days. EC Schools provided ACT testing free to juniors.
Ward said a makeup test of some sort may be ahead with details to be determined, however, there will be no cost to parents for additional testing.
Ward said ACT has stated that “Regardless of the option chosen, students who complete the test will receive a valid, reliable, college-reportable score.”
“JAHHS will select the option that benefits our students most, addresses testing fatigue and takes advantage of the testing that was already completed,” she said.
JAHHS Principal Sonya Rinehart will be making a call this afternoon to update parents based on details received from ACT.
Perquimans Schools Superintendent Tanya Turner said the Pirates did not take the ACT on Tuesday.
“We test in two more weeks so hopefully all the issues will be worked out by then,” she said.
When the Albemarle Observer receives more information, we’ll update this story.
