Aspire to college

Last March, when 24 students at North Davidson High were preparing for the next day’s ACT college pre-admission test, they laughed, sipped soft drinks, argued with each other and even played with their teacher’s 2-month-old son.

They had every right to be comfortable with each other and their coaches for the test, math teacher Jennifer Brinkley and English teacher Paul Piatkowski. They had been meeting together every week after school from October to Christmas. Ms. Brinkley (a member of EnergyUnited from Reedy Creek) said they all felt like family to each other.

The students also were comfortable with the English, math and science material they were reviewing for the ACT, a standardized test that could determine whether they make it into college. (Colleges that require a standardized test will accept either the ACT or a similar test, the SAT.) These students were enrolled in a test-prep program called ASPIRE — ACT Supplemental Preparation in Rural Education — sponsored by NC State University since the 2012-2013 school year.  Before conceiving the program, officials in NCSU’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences realized that rural students often lacked access to the test preparation services offered in urban areas. As a result, they felt, NC State was missing out on qualified students.

Trained ASPIRE coach Paul Piatkowski (middle photo) said the goal is to score above a college’s cutoff point so admissions officials can look at a student’s other attributes.

Working with N.C. Cooperative Extension, they linked up with partners including the Golden Leaf Foundation and agricultural organizations to pay Princeton Review, a test prep business, to train Extension agents and public school teachers as ASPIRE coaches. Princeton Review supplies materials and practice tests.

Any students planning to attend college may take the prep course. They each pay $165 and will be refunded $100 if they complete the course. That compares with $999 for 30 hours of onsite or live online instruction from Princeton Review and $699 for similar courses by Kaplan.

So far, 377 students from 23 counties have completed North Carolina’s 30-hour ASPIRE course since 2012. In that first year, they showed an average improvement of 3.5 points (a score of 36 is perfect) between their first and fourth practice tests. There were 92 students participating this year from these counties: Haywood, Person, Lincoln, Catawba, Pasquotank, Johnston, Columbus, Cherokee and Davidson.

Practice makes almost perfect

When the 24 North Davidson students were in the class last March, Ms. Brinkley told them there are 60 questions on the math test, and 60 minutes allotted to answer them. She advised them to start with those that they know how to do. (“They can guess on the other ones, because it doesn’t count against them,” she explained later.)

On the essay part of the ACT, student Katie Kessler asked Mr. Piatkowski whether they should write in third or first person. “Whatever you’re comfortable with,” he said. “If you have extra time, go back and add detail, which gives impact to writing. Instead of saying, ‘I went to a restaurant,’ write, ‘I went to a fast-food restaurant.’”

Scores in the mid-to-high 20s are good, says Mr. Piatkowski. The goal, he says, is to score high enough to stay above a college’s automatic cutoff point so that officials can look at a student’s other attributes.

Though students could access a variety of test-help programs online, Ms. Brinkley says that in ASPIRE “they’re accountable. They have to answer to me and to each other.”

Student Dana Shaut improved by four points on practice tests to a 30, which made her very happy.  When she got to the actual ACT, she says, “I was so calm. “ And when the ACT scores came back in April, Dana did even better on the test than on her practice tests, scoring a 31.