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Wood County uses PSAT to prep students for junior year

PARKERSBURG — Wood County Schools freshmen and sophomores this month completed a practice SAT exam to prepare for the statewide test administered yearly to all 11th-grade students.

Last spring, West Virginia adopted use of the SAT as the state summative assessment for all 11th-graders. The exam not only is used to determine statewide how students are performing, but can also be used to apply for scholarships and college admissions.

Wood County Superintendent Will Hosaflook said the district purchased the PSAT, which was taken by the district’s 9th-graders last week and 10th-graders this week.

“We have no data points from 9th- and 10th-graders” on the SAT, Hosaflook said. “We will get these test results back in December, and then we can start to plan and intervene in areas where the students need help.”

Christie Willis, director of curriculum and instruction for Wood County Schools, said nearly 2,000 practice exams were purchased at just under $18,000. However, that price included tools which help students identify areas of need so they can work to improve their test scores.

The PSAT also is used to identify students who would benefit from advanced placement, or AP courses.

“The principals can then go to a student and say ‘hey, if you take this AP class and put in the work, you will pass the AP exam,’ “ Hosaflook said. “We can point to this and say, ‘We know this student can do more.'”

By the time current freshmen take the exam their junior year, they’ll have already taken the practice exam twice, Hosaflook said.

“I think it is going to be incredibly valuable for us and for those students,” he said.

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