Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2008 / Divine Child awarded by ACT for college prep
Divine Child awarded by ACT for college prep
by Joe Kohn of The Michigan Catholic
Published April 11, 2008
Joe Kohn | The Michigan Catholic
Divine Child High School principal Peggy Knuth talks with ACT representative John Carroll after receiving the Red Quill Award for improved ACT test scores. |
Dearborn You could say Divine Child High School really has its ACT together.
The 900-student school last week received high praise and the rare Red Quill Award from the ACT organization, which administers standardized tests colleges use to gauge college-readiness among high school students.
"We're really about college readiness, and so is Divine Child," said John Carroll, a representative of the ACT Midwest Region. "Some schools want to improve their scores, but what the ACT represents is 'Are kids college ready?' So, Divine Child says 'We want to make our kids more college ready, not just have higher ACT scores.' There's a difference."
Carroll was on Divine Child's campus April 2 to present the Red Quill Award to the administration. The award is for the greatest improvement on ACT scores over a five-year period. Adlai Stevenson High School in Livonia was this year's only other recipient in Michigan.
Divine Child lifted its average ACT score from 22 to 24 in the past five years. In 2007, the nationwide average ACT test score was 21. The average in Michigan where every high school junior takes the test was 18.8 last year.
"This is a very strong school," Carroll said of Divine Child. "Their scores are well above the state average, well above the typical public school and well above some of their Catholic counterparts, as well."
Principal Peggy Knuth said the school has focused on raising test scores as a way to add value to the Catholic education Divine Child provides. Because test scores often have a direct relation to scholarship money in some universities one point on an ACT test can mean thousands of dollars worth of scholarships raising test scores is a way to make sure parents get their tuition bill's worth.
"The idea is to get them scholarship money," said Knuth. "And one way to get them scholarship money is through ACT scores. The better the score, the more money they're going to get."
That holds especially true, she said, of Catholic education. Since many Divine Child High School students have attended Catholic schools since kindergarten, the students are encouraged to attend Catholic colleges. And although private colleges often cost more than public universities, there also are more scholarship opportunities available provided grade point averages and standardize testing scores are high enough.
"Our philosophy is trying to make college free, as much as possible," she said.
The administration has taken strides over the past few years to boost the test scores, and really stepped up efforts in the fall. They consulted with Carroll at the beginning of the school year. Although Divine Child already was administering standardized tests for freshman and sophomores, they decided to add Saturday-night ACT study sessions to their offerings.
"They're giving up something to be here, and they came," said school librarian Serge Danielson-Francois, who administered ACT-prep sessions on Saturday evenings. "Ninety students came in November, December, January, February and March."
The students used various resources such as the Michigan Electronic Library and a popular ACT preparation textbook. The school staff administered practice tests during the sessions and helped the students understand whatever tripped them up on the practice tests. No resource was left untapped.
"At times we were stumped," Danielson-Francois said. "My wife teaches biology at U-M Dearborn, so she came in very handy in the science. That makes a difference, when the students have someone with expertise able to help them." Information from the ACT practice session also was shared with department chairs at the school, so that trouble areas could be addressed through regular classes.
In addition to the practice sessions, students who struggle with standardized testing have been given help after school and during the summer.
Matt Medwicki, a senior who scored a 34 on the ACT better than 98 percent of students nationwide said exposure to practice standardized testing helps when it comes to the real thing.
"The more experience you have with standardized testing, the better," he said.
Matt, who next year will attend University of Detroit Mercy, said his scores made a significant difference in the amount of scholarship money he would have available for school.
His classmate, Kayla Schultz, also scored a 34. What prepared her for the test, she said, was not so much the practice, but the school's day-to-day classroom instruction.
"I think a lot of it is the discipline," Kayla said. "I learn more because I'm more driven to do my homework and read the chapter and stuff like that. I think it wasn't just the ACT prep stuff. It was the fact that they push you to learn your entire career."
Still, she added, the availability of the preparation is key to the school's overall ACT scores.
"The more opportunity you get to help prepare yourself, the more you're going to be inclined to do it," she said. Although Divine Child's students and administration have a plaque from the ACT organization to recognize the progress they've made in the past five years, they still have their sights set on improving the scores further.
"You're looking for how you can stay ahead of the curve and do things that are going to benefit your students the way no one else is, because at the end of the day we're in a competitive environment," said assistant principal Damian Hermann. "I'm even more excited to see where we're going to be in three or four years because of some of the changes we're making."
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