On Monday, May 16; Tuesday, May 17; Monday, May 23; and Tuesday, May 24, sophomores and freshmen will be taking the ACT Aspire test. Each student has been assigned a date and a location for testing. This information is posted at South campus, by the guidance offices and in the study halls.

Sophomore students will be testing on May 16 and May 17. The sophomore class will be divided into two groups, according to last name. The group testing on Monday will be last names A-M, the remaining students in the sophomore class will test on Tuesday.

Freshmen students will be testing on May 23 and May 24. The freshmen class will be divided in the same fashion as the sophomore class, by last name.

The testing will last from 7:20 am through 2:26 pm. In previous years, the testing groups were separated in a different way. In 2015, the freshmen class partook in the Aspire testing twice: once in the fall and once in the spring. The 2015 sophomore class only took the Aspire test in the spring. In 2015, the testing was span over four days for each grade, and eight days total. However, the testing did not last all day. There were two testing groups in the freshmen class, and two testing groups in the sophomore class. All groups were determined by last name and grade. Each testing group was assigned 2 consecutive dates and a location to take the Aspire test. On the two days that a given student was assigned to take the Aspire, the student would come to school at the regular time of 7:20, and would test until 10:12. Any students who were not testing were not required to arrive until 10:12, when the testing concluded.

This year, all juniors and seniors are not required to attend school on Monday, May 16; Tuesday, May 17; Monday, May 23; and Tuesday, May 24.

Tim Tower, a sociology and western civics teacher at Arrowhead, says “They are using the school’s computers at North Campus. There are not enough computers at the other campus, plus the quality of them is also poor, and teenagers cheat.”

Sophomore student Gary Griepentrong says, “I don’t see many benefits nor drawbacks to aspire testing. It will give us time to take a break from our classes and get caught up on some studying and have time to do social activities as well.”

“I don’t think that it’s frustrating to have to take the aspire test again. I think it is relaxing to get time off of school for a little bit. This gives me time to study and relax. The test does not put much stress on me.”