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State allows 11th graders to take the test they prepared for

Elise Thatcher

Students in the Roaring Fork Valley can take a test this April that’s called the ACT.

Colorado’s Department of Education confirmed that on Monday, after weeks of confusion.

  The widely used test is taken by 11th graders, to assess how ready a student is for college. In Colorado it’s also been a tool for tracking student achievement. The state’s education department decided in late December to switch all schools to the SAT.

Rob Stein is Chief Academic Officer for the Roaring Fork School District and says allowing juniors to take the ACT this spring is a big deal. “There’s a lot of relief because there was a lot of uncertainty about changing, with very short notice, to a totally different test,” he said by phone on Monday. “Certainly [the decision] reduces a great deal of anxiety and stress,” said Aspen Schools Superintendent John Maloy.

Education officials said ultimately switching from the ACT to the SAT is to better analyze what students are learning in Colorado schools. 10th graders this spring will take a version of the SAT, to prepare them for the full switch in 2017.  

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