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by Marlee Crozier
Web Editor
Constant Siri interruptions? Kicked out…again? Didn’t know to bring your iPad? Both students and staff were met with challenges on the recent ACT testing day.
“It was frustrating because they had a lot of problems with getting it up and running in time,” junior Michelle Lee said, “the group I was in, a lot of students didn’t bring their iPads.”
A miscommunication that resulted in some confusion and lack of proper testing resources, was the task for juniors taking the ACT to bring their iPads.
“As part of the ACT Boot Camp, students were informed that they needed to bring their iPads, but written information sent to students by administration caused some confusion,” NS principal Christine Straatman said, “We definitely needed to communicate more clearly to students and parents that iPads would be used for testing.”
Students experienced problems with testing on both the iPads and desktop computers, though the primary issues with testing were experienced on the lab computers. All students were forced to wait thirty minutes, and some in the labs over an hour and a half.
“Finally by the fourth [error], Mrs. Straatman came in and said you’re gonna have to exit the test.” Lee said. “They told me I would have to take the test another day, and now I am kind of frustrated that I have to miss a school day and do the ACT I was already planning to do.”
The issues that arose took the district tech team by surprise, as proper preparation was taken previously with no issues.
“We went in and the users would click to not use Siri, and then the test would come up and say Siri was on. It caused the test to not work across the board in our labs, till we were able to find a setting to turn it off with.” Enoch Brown, Help Desk Administrator, said. “It was such a surprise because we had gone in and tested the labs to make sure they were ready.”
Combining the delays due to miscommunication and technical difficulties, many students experienced additional stress continuing on with their testing.
“I would say the problem I had with the computer affected my test negatively,” junior Michael Larsen said. “It was frustrating to get behind schedule. I feel I would have done better if I hadn’t been kicked out a few times.”
The administration acknowledges the impact the challenges had and wants to offer students the opportunity for an additional chance at the test.
“I recognize the importance of taking the ACT and how incredibly stressful the experience can be for students,” Straattman said, “so I’m very saddened to think that the challenges we faced at the beginning of the test may have caused an increase of stress or anxiety for some of our students.”
To compensate for the issues experienced the original testing date, students that feel their performance was impacted are being offered an additional opportunity to test. NS is offering a voucher to retake the ACT on June 11 on Snow College campus. Any interested juniors can contact Heather Hafen in the library by April 15.
Not only are the administration working on improvements for students this year but the future experiences of ACT test takers at NS.
“The upcoming version of Mac OS has a [setting] so the test can turn off everything it needs so we don’t have to push it through preferences.” Brown said. “So, when we upgrade over the summer it should also prepare our computers for testing in a much better way than what we can do now. I think we will be much better prepared for next year because of the things that happened this year.”
Administration wants all those involved to feel their empathy for the unforeseen issues.
“I sincerely apologize to our students and parents for any undue stress caused by the challenges we faced during ACT testing on Tuesday,” Straatman said. “I’m committed to improving the process moving forward. We will continue to debrief as a testing team to discuss the challenges we faced during the administration of the ACT, and collectively come up with a plan to improve the process for next year.”
