Before fall break, on Oct. 16 the freshman class were required to take the Pre-ACT for the first time. The Pre-ACT was previously only taken by the sophomore class. 

The freshman Pre-ACT is a three year state initiative. When asked what would happen after the three years were up Katie George, counselor, said, “It depends if it’s meeting the needs that we want, we always reevaluate.” 

The state is even considering replacing state assessments every year with the Pre-ACT. However, the board decided to table this decision, and it will not happen for the 2020-2021 school year. On Oct. 16, Beth Fultz, assistant director of the Kansas Department of Education, confirmed this, saying, “The KSBOE will continue to study the impact of having free access to both Pre-ACT and ACT and revisit the issue when more information/data is available.”

There were many freshmen upset with this change. 

“I don’t get why there was a required pre-test for a test that’s not required. It doesn’t count for anything, it’s not a grade…,”Chloe Maisch, 9, said “[I plan on pursuing something] like cosmetology, and for those schools you don’t really need to take the ACT. 

Some freshman praised the change. 

“I really liked it. I think it was good to just know what it was like. I was really nervous going in… but I knew it didn’t really count for anything, it was just practice… It helped me… figure out how much time to spend on each question,” Logan Kilbey, 9, said.

George offered insight into how she felt about the freshman Pre-ACT.

George said, “I think that if the freshmen use their results and they took the test fairly seriously… it will pay off with the rest of high school and into their career.”