ACT at Rossview

By Rebecca Waddle
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Students at Rossview have already noticed an increased focus on preparation for the ACT. The ACT, or the SAT, is required to graduate in all public Tennessee schools, starting with the graduating class of 2018. The ACT is very crucial for every student because it will greatly impact their future. The ACT influences a student's way of life because it determines their college and career readiness. However, universities are not the only organizations that look at your ACT scores- employers and scholarship foundations do as well.

The ACT enrichment plans at Rossview are scheduled to continue, starting with “Know Your Numbers” and Study Island ACT practice on Wednesday. Furthermore, there are plans to incorporate additional activities during enrichment on Monday and provide more ACT support for juniors.

The goal for Rossview’s ACT score is to improve the overall average from a 22 to a 25. Dr. Doughty wishes to keep improving our score and striving for higher results, even though the school's score is currently very high.

The ACT allows Rossview High School to compare our results nationally; whereas, TN-Ready tests only compare our scores with other Tennessee schools. Furthermore, Rossview has been using the ACT to show the continuous improvement that takes place each year.

Why should Rossview student’s take advantage of this opportunity to prepare and take the ACT while in school?  In a recent interview with Dr. Doughty, she provided this insight: “... take it seriously. My husband wanted to be in the military right after high school and he [never took] the ACT. However, a few years later he decided that it wasn’t his passion anymore and wanted to go to college and pick a new career path. So, he had to take the ACT and we had to go back and relearn …  simple English questions, such as where semicolons go, and Geometry. I suggest to [students] to take it seriously because it is harder to go back down the line and try to earn a good enough ACT score to get into a decent college.”

Like Dr. Doughty suggested, all students, even those who are not college bound, should take the ACT, and take it seriously, because you never know where life is going to lead you. Many people do not plan on changing their career paths so early in their life. Yet, career changes happen frequently, and you do not want to go back and relearn high school courses in your late 20s or 30s.

Rossview will be continuing to implement new ACT practice opportunities at least once a week, including the information sessions: “Know Your Numbers” and Wednesday ACT practice during enrichment. Additional chances for increasing your score includes: study groups, future Saturday classes, and tutoring after school.
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Dr. Doughty’s advice to the students here at Rossview: “What we do works. We have data that shows how our scores have improved because of ACT Wednesday and the study groups. Classes like ACT Prep have also helped to improve our students scores because those who have taken that class seem to score higher than those who have not. The data shows what we do works and it has improved hundreds of students scores since we started these activities.”