NWACC Impact Group raises money to help Decatur students with ACT test fees

Kaula Yang, Youa Vang and Jessica Segovia signed a tablecloth for the bake sale booth. The fundraising bake sale will be held today at the Northwest Arkansas Community College to raise money to help Decatur students pay for ACT testing fees.
Kaula Yang, Youa Vang and Jessica Segovia signed a tablecloth for the bake sale booth. The fundraising bake sale will be held today at the Northwest Arkansas Community College to raise money to help Decatur students pay for ACT testing fees.

— Thirteen students gathered in the Decatur High School library last Wednesday to make posters and decorations for a bake sale to raise money for ACT test fees.

The bake sale will be held at Northwest Arkansas Community College today. It was organized by three NWACC students, Kayla Yates, Christina Davis and Josh Stone, as part of an Impact Group project for their introduction to education class.

The three students have set a goal to raise $350, or enough money to pay the fees for 10 tests.

The ACT test is the most widely used test to measure a student’s college readiness in English, math, reading and science. College remediation rates for Decatur students, which are measured by ACT scores, were higher than 70 percent in 2010.

State funds pay for all Decatur juniors to takethe test once and students who are eligible for free and reduced lunches can applyfor waivers, but the $35 per test fee can be cost prohibitive for many, according to Decatur High School Counselor Nancy Cotter.

Cotter recommends students take the ACT test at least five times during their junior and senior year, not only because the more times a student takes a test the more comfortable and familiar they becomewith it but also because many colleges accept a superscore, which takes the highest scores from individual categories and combines them.

Junior Jayme Burden,who has already taken the ACT twice, said taking it more than once was important.

used to it and you don’t stress as much,” she said.

Kayla Yates, whose husband Davey Yates works as a teacher and coach at Decatur High School, said she decided to make ACT test availability the focus of her school project after hearing her husband talk about the challenges Decatur faces.

“If you can’t afford to take the test, you can’t take that first step towards college,” she said.

A $35 fee for one test may not sound cost prohibitive, but multiplied by four times the expense would total $140.

When the group of students were asked if the fee was a problem for their families to afford, some shook their heads answering “no, it’s no big deal” while others nodded, admitting that it posed a challenge for their families that could cause them to take the test fewer times.

Kayla Yates said she asked the Decatur students to get involved in the project by asking them for help with posters and decorations forthe bake sale booth.

“I heard we needed to come help and no one else was,” junior Josh Hare explained as his reason for helping with the project.

School News, Pages 11 on 02/29/2012