Livingston Academy students returned to the classroom for an ACT Summer Slam program designed to improve their standardized testing scores.
Livingston Academy Teacher Jacob Tibbs said the two-day event allowed students to choose a three-hour intensive review. Tibbs said the school utilized social media and a countywide phone tree to invite parents and students to the voluntary program, and they were impressed with the turnout.
“It’s very good to have this many students be interested in coming to school in the summer on their own will, no academic requirements,” Tibbs said. “This is just them wanting to better themselves and get better on the upcoming ACTs.”
Tibbs said the instructors also focused on time management strategies by ensuring students understand the exact number of questions and minutes allotted for every section. Tibbs said despite relaxed standardized testing requirements following the COVID-19 pandemic, colleges and universities around the country still views the ACT as a vital metric for college readiness and requires the test for graduation,. Tibbs said LA has maintained completion of the ACT as a graduation requirement.
“It’s certainly not a perfect indicator of students’ intelligence by any means, but it does have its value as if you’re looking for a general number, how are these students that are about to graduate doing on each of these subjects and how can we compare them to students across the country,” Tibbs said.
Tibbs said the program divides the three-hour session into 45-minute blocks dedicated to each of the four subjects found on the ACT. Tibbs said the school maintains a dedicated wall to recognize every student who achieves a composite score of 28 or higher.
“We want as many students as possible to succeed and do well, and they make us really proud,” Tibbs said. “Hopefully, this will lead to more students getting to be on that 28-and-up wall because that’s what we want.”
Tibbs said he led the English portion of the review with a specific focus on the proper usage of commas, semicolons, and colons. Tibbs said math lead Jean Jolley provided students with 10 essential tips for the math section, while science teacher Kim Goodpasture and reading lead Megan Castle handled the remaining subjects.
“I think we have kids who really want to do well and we have parents that absolutely share that desire,” Tibbs said. “Our students know that the ACT is important, we really push that at our school.”
Tibbs said while this was the first time the school hosted a summer session, Livingston Academy typically holds similar ACT slam sessions during each semester of the regular school year.
“I’m just really thankful that as many parents were supportive of it as there were and as many students have come with great attitudes ready to learn because it’s always great to see kids wanting to do extra outside of the regular school year,” Tibbs said. “It’s good to see them actually willing to come during the summer just with a desire to learn with a great attitude.”
Tibbs said the strong turnout for the inaugural summer event makes it likely the school will continue the program in future years.