FAYETTEVILLE -- The School District is exploring the possibility of offering a one-semester elective class at the high school that would prepare students for college entrance exams.
District officials hope to boost students' scores on the PSAT and the ACT, thereby helping them to qualify for scholarships. If the class were part of the high school's course offerings, students could get for free what many families now pay for.
Budget approved
The Fayetteville School Board approved a budget Thursday for the 2017-18 school year. The budget shows the School District expects $104,810,246 in revenue while spending $105,434,705, meaning the district would outspend revenue by $624,459.
Glenda Sullins, director of finance and business services, and Matthew Wendt, superintendent, said the budget reflects a conservative estimate of revenue and the district will not actually spend as much as what the budget portrays. Wendt expects the fund balance to exceed by the end of the fiscal year the $13.7 million balance as of the end of last fiscal year.
Source: Staff report
"An increase in ACT prep will help all students, but it will also help students who can't afford a tutor after school or on the weekends," said Steven Weber, associate superintendent for teaching and learning.
Weber mentioned the plan at Thursday's School Board meeting as part of his presentation on the district's latest ACT results, from last year's 11th-graders.
In 2016, 426 Fayetteville students took the ACT and scored a composite average of 23.8, beating that year's state average by 3.6 points. This past year, however, 664 students took the ACT and registered a composite average of 21.8, only 2.4 points above the state average.
The higher number of test takers is owed to the state's new practice of offering the test for free to all public school 11th-graders.
The district is not making excuses for the lower scores, but the larger number of test takers should be taken into account, Weber said.
He also pointed out Fayetteville's top 50 performers on the ACT received an average composite score of 32, and the top 300 compiled an average composite of 28. The top score possible on the ACT is 36.
"You can still get into several impressive schools with a 28," Weber said.
Still, he added, the district knows it can do better, especially among certain subgroups of students. Among those students who earned a composite score of 32 or better last school year, only 5 percent were considered economically disadvantaged, Weber said.
Besides offering the test preparation class, the district needs to do a better job of aligning its curriculum with the skills tested on the ACT, Weber said. The district has established a curriculum review cycle that started this year with math and music; it will continue next year with science and with English language arts the year after that.
The district also has to do a better job of notifying parents of extra opportunities available for low-income students to take the ACT for free, Weber said.
Superintendent Matthew Wendt said he recently talked to a woman whose son took the ACT three times, each time earning a composite score of 25 or 26. After she hired a tutor for him, he scored a 29. The difference between 26 and 29 is substantial when it comes to scholarship opportunities, Wendt said.
"That is a game changer when you look at the price tag of what that kid can earn over a four-year period," he said.
Fayetteville School District has a course proposal process. The test preparation course has been submitted, though the course review committee hasn't met yet, Weber said.
NW News on 09/29/2017