Raising Scores on the ACT's English Test

Photo by John Schnobrich on Unsplash

These two emails showed up in my inbox this summer.

"Hi, Ms. Benz! Hope you are having a great summer! Just wanted to let you know I got my June ACT back and was very happy with the results. The first time I took it I got a 26; my English was my best score at a 28, and my reading dropped my composite drastically at a 22. However, the second time, my English was a 33 and my reading was a 30, increasing by 8 points and putting my composite at a 30. ...I would just like to say thanks because your class had a DIRECT impact on these scores, and they likely would not have improved like this without your class. Your class not only drastically changed my score but also my potential college! I have often been annoyed with the ACT for many reasons— one being because it seems like a glorified reading test— but after your class I realized it can benefit me and not hurt me. Thanks!!!"

"Mrs. Benz, I hope your summer is off to a great start. We just got our ACT scores back from the June test, and I wanted to let you know I got a 35 on the English portion -- up 9 points from my September test! I would not have been able to do that without you, and I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate you!"

Standardized tests like the ACT are simultaneously popular and unpopular. While schools and states analyze data from these tests to guide school improvement, parents, students, and teachers mourn the imbalance that weights teaching as a science more than teaching as an art and worry about the anxiety and pressure associated with standardized tests. I fall into both camps. Without a doubt, most students endure too much testing, but a strong test every once in a while is necessary to measure growth and skills.

I teach high school juniors who consider the ACT their most important assessment in all of high school. It is no myth that an ACT score determines which colleges and scholarships will be available to a senior, so I take the ACT seriously as well because my first goal as a teacher is to open doors for my students, which is especially meaningful for marginalized populations. Since a higher ACT score translates into more options and more money, schools must take this test seriously.

BACKGROUND

I started using 4 ACT-like questions to start class each day to review grammar and writing skills all year long, rather than teaching lessons, completing practice, taking a test, and calling it good. Within just months, though, I came to realize that this method for grammar review and daily use of grammar language would have additional benefits for my students, so I started giving an ACT English pre-test in September and a post-test in April to measure their growth. Every year the pre-test average is 20-22, and the post-test average is 26-29. I attribute these results to a methodical and systematic approach to grammar and writing instruction.

STEP 1

I determined which grammar concepts had the greatest impact on my students' writing. As a result, I teach phrases, dangling and misplaced modifiers, clauses, run-ons, fragments, parallelism, and punctuation. I also emphasize the importance of being precise and concise. If time allows, I will include capitalization and nominative vs. objective case pronouns, especially who vs. whom. When rarer issues come up, such as lie vs. lay, I address it right then. I teach the major concepts (in the above order) during first semester. Based on my students' reflections, a thorough and systematic approach like this would be useful at most secondary grade levels.

STEP 2

I set up my first semester in a cycle. We start with a focus on literature (though my students write almost daily still) for 2-3 weeks. Then my students have 2 weeks to write a piece about the most meaningful theme or rhetorical qualities of the literature. During the 2 weeks for writing, I teach short and long grammar lessons so that the tools I'm giving them are ready for immediate incorporation into the pieces they are composing during that time.

STEP 3

I teach grammar using my 3-2-1 method. We start as a whole class with direct instruction or discovery learning. Then we practice as a whole class, which is designated with the 3. After practice runs smoothly as a whole class, my students practice in small groups or pairs, which is designated with the 2. To be sure students are able to use the skill on their own, we end with individualized practice, which is the 1 of 3-2-1.

The practice itself is also scaffolded. I start with identification and editing, but the ultimate goal is to create sentences, then paragraphs, and finally larger pieces of writing that effectively use the acquired grammar knowledge.

STEP 4

I complete my direct grammar instruction in the first semester so that I can devote second semester to review and implementation. Each day in second semester begins with 4 ACT-like English questions. As we discuss the correct answer and the distractors as well, we use the grammar language acquired during first semester. Students cannot tell me that that the answer has correct comma placement because a pause feels right in that spot. Instead, explanations must use terms such as introductory participial phrase and nonessential dependent clause. Students often tell me that the first time they took the ACT they based their decisions on what sounded correct, but after practicing grammar systematically and thoroughly, they chose answers based on rules and patterns they can explain.

RATIONALE

The ACT English Test is based on common errors I have seen in teenagers' writing since I began teaching in 2000. When I use the concepts and style of this test to develop my grammar instruction, I am not teaching to the test. I am helping my students recognize and fix common errors in the own writing, which will only benefit them as their writing is read by professors, colleagues, customers, and employers going forward. Good writers pay attention to ethos (the speaker's credibility), logos (logical reasoning), and pathos (emotional appeals). Clean and clear writing is a tremendous contributor to the ethos of one's writing. What's more, instruction based on the ACT English test sets up students for success on a test that often provides college admission and financial aid. For me, it's not about my love for grammar, which is strong, but my love for students, which is even stronger.

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Gina Benz teaches AP students, EL students, and future teachers at Roosevelt High School in Sioux Falls, SD, where she began her career as an English teacher 19 years ago. To learn more about this topic and her other passions as a teacher, go to GinaBenz.org or follow her on Twitter @GinaBenz605.