PSAE/ACT
by McConnell Tim
February 05, 2008
To EHS Junior parents:
On April 23 and 24, 2008 Erie High School Junior students will take the 8th Prairie State Achievement Examination or PSAE. The examination measures the achievement of grade 11 students relative to the Illinois Learning Standards in the areas of reading, mathematics,and science. The PSAE is not an easy examination. It is made up of three components.
1) The ACT Assessment which includes Reading, Writing, English, Mathematics, and Science Reasoning.
2) Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) developed writing, science, and social studies assessments similar to the ISAT testing done in grades 7 and 8.
3) Two Work Keys assessments dealing with real life skills: Reading for Information and Applied Mathematics.
The PSAE is NOT a standardized achievement test in which students are compared to the overall performance of a larger group of students. In the PSAE, each student is evaluated on his/her individual performance against a predetermined cut off score and the student is rated as exceeds standards, meets standards, below standards, and academic warning.
The results of the ACT portion is accepted by all colleges so the student will not have to take and pay for the ACT test later. (The one exception is that the NCAA will not accept this ACT score for athletes, they must take it during one of the national test days.)
For more information go to http://www.isbe.net and click on the link: Students/Parents on the left margin, then click on Student Assessment under the Student Instruction heading.
Since the PSAE is NOT standardized, performance can be improved by student preparation. The ISBE provides all schools with support information and study materials to help students succeed on this examination. Erie High School is providing our students with opportunities to increase their success on the PSAE by scheduling practice tests / study sessions from January through March 2006.
PSAE (ISBE State Testing) (click on link)
