Students will be required to take the standardized ACT test to graduate from Evanston Township High School beginning in the 2024-2025 school year, per the Illinois State Board of Education’s new requirements.
On Wednesday, May 15, the state entered a five-year contract for $53 million with ACT Inc. Public high school juniors have taken the SAT statewide since 2015, when the state made a $14.3 million deal with the College Board.
“The ACT aligns to the Illinois Learning Standards; provides a secure online testing experience for students, while reducing administrative burden on districts; and prioritizes accessible and actionable reporting for educators and families,” State Superintendent of Education Tony Sanders said in an online statement.
While the test is cited to align with education standards, price has been noted as a key component in the decision between the standardized test options available.
“We’ve communicated this information to our families and recognized this transition carries significant implications for our students and we will be working to support them just as we adjust our resources to accommodate change,” ETHS superintendent Marcus Campbell said at the June 10 District 202 Board of Education meeting.
The newly reinstated test features four multiple choice test segments — in English, math, reading and science, respectively — and a writing assessment. Conversely, the previous SAT consisted of just two sections: reading and writing, and math.
The ACT serves as a federal accountability requirement for public high schools, and often as a college entrance assessment for students applying to further education.
While many colleges across the country accept both tests, some require one or the other, additional subject tests, or don’t require them at all.
Critics of both standardized tests cite inequity and the cost of tutoring in support of test-optional policies, while some schools maintain that standardized tests help them better identify gifted students with unequal opportunity access.
Northwestern University is among the growing number of schools to waive typical standardized test requirements altogether. This shift was amplified during the pandemic, when schools opted to avoid the tests for social distancing reasons.
The ACT now offers both online and paper test formats, while the SAT is completely digital.
ETHS switches back to ACT for 2024-2025 testing is from Evanston RoundTable, Evanston's most trusted source for unbiased, in-depth journalism.