Students tutoring peers for test day

Jennifer Sherwood felt unsure that she was the right person for the job when she learned Wiregrass Ranch High wanted high-performing students to provide tutoring to seniors who are at risk of not graduating.

"I thought, 'Why me? There are so many better people to do it,' " said Sherwood, 18, a senior who plans to study chemical engineering and nuclear physics in college.

After more thought, though, she decided she should pitch in if there was a chance she could make a difference.

Wiregrass Ranch High launched the after-school tutoring effort four weeks ago to help a group of struggling seniors score well enough on the ACT to qualify for a diploma and graduate with their classmates.

"We hope to have a large pass rate," Principal Ray Bonti said.

One of the high school graduation requirements in Florida is that students must pass the 10th-grade reading and math portions of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. Students who fall short get several opportunities to retake those exams, including another one coming up in April.

There is another option, though. If students score well on the ACT or SAT exams that they take for college admissions, they can substitute those tests for FCAT. That's the reason for the big ACT-tutoring push at Wiregrass Ranch High.

It might seem that all standardized tests are created equal, but that's not the case, Bonti said. Some students perform better with some test formats than with others, and that's why a student who comes up short on FCAT could still perform well on the ACT.

The exam is being administered on the school's campus Feb. 11. The students need ACT scores of 18 on reading and 15 on math to meet the requirement and graduate.

The top possible ACT score is 36. All the students serving as tutors scored a 30 or higher on the subject they are helping with, which puts them in the top 10 percent of those who took the test.

"They have the knowledge and ability to do well on these ACT tests," Bonti said.

Wiregrass Ranch High anticipates it will have 450 seniors in this year's graduating class. Roughly 30 still need to pass FCAT.

Nora Light, a dual enrollment language arts teacher who oversees the tutoring, said past tutoring efforts involved adults working with the students. The student-to-student arrangement works well because the teenagers "have a common language" and think in ways an adult might not, she said.

"I think it lessens the stress and anxiety the test-taker has," Light said. "It seems so simple and yet we have never done this before."

On Tuesdays the students concentrate on math. Thursdays are set aside for reading.

Reading draws the larger group, with 21 students in need of assistance with that subject compared with 13 who need help with math. Some students are in both groups.

The school is doing all it can to increase the odds the students will graduate. Wiregrass Ranch purchased test preparation books and also is paying for the ACT test-taking fee, which is $49.50 per student.

Although the tutors are volunteers, the school's Parent-Teacher-Student Association decided to reward them with mall gift cards.

Dan Helfrich, 17, said he has tutored before through a math club and the situation is similar.

"You have to put yourself in their position," he said.

Helfrich acknowledged he felt rushed when he took the exam, so one of the things he likes to focus on is to tackle what appear to be the easier questions first, then come back to the more difficult ones if there is time.

Since it's a timed test, there's a danger in spending too long on one problem.

Then again, there's also a danger of worrying too much about the ticking clock.

"When you stress about time you can't think clearly," Sherwood said.

The ACT will be given Saturday at Wiregrass Ranch High.

The morning of the exam, the school plans a pre-test celebration, with refreshments and "win one for the Gipper"-style pep talks.

Then it will be time to perform.