Test prep trumps class work

By all accounts, Larkin junior Max O'Neill excels at math. Consistently scoring A's in the subject, O'Neill is enrolled in precalculus, while a majority of his peers are still taking algebra.

History's tougher for O'Neill.

"I'm not that great at remembering stuff," he said.

Yet, once a week, the 16-year-old is pulled out of his U.S. history class to practice KeyTrain, a computer program that hones applied mathematics and reading skills for test-taking.

These skills will be used on the WorkKeys job skills assessment portion of the upcoming Prairie State Achievement Exams.

"How can Larkin justify taking my son out of a class as valuable as U.S. history," asked Max's father, Bill. "Kids should be learning a subject to do well on a test, not learning how to take a test."

Only 45.2 percent of Elgin Area School District U-46 juniors met or exceeded state standards on the state test last year, compared to 52.6 percent of juniors across the state. Schools face No Child Left Behind sanctions if scores do not improve.

Along with state-test tutoring sessions for students who received low scores on practice ACT tests, all U-46 high school juniors learn to use KeyTrain software, said Tom Donausky, the district's executive director for secondary education.

Students are targeted for KeyTrain sessions in U.S. history classes throughout the district, Donausky said, because of the high percentage of juniors who take the course.

KeyTrain sessions are administered in different fashions and frequencies at each of the district's five high schools.

"We haven't given schools directives as to how to teach this," Donausky said. "It varies by each school's need."

Larkin gives its KeyTrain sessions once each week during the second semester.

South Elgin High School juniors spend two class periods per quarter on KeyTrain prior to the test, said Carol DePue, chairwoman of the school's career and technical education department.

At Elgin High, students who scored below 20 on their practice ACT tests get two KeyTrain sessions every third week. Other Elgin juniors take a 50-minute KeyTrain class once per quarter.

At Streamwood High School, the amount of KeyTrain sessions are decided by each U.S. history teacher.

"Students generally attend at least one monthly session," Principal Oscar Hawthorne said.

At Bartlett, KeyTrain is taught in a variety of academic departments, with each teacher given discretion over how often their classes attend sessions.

Math and physics teacher Colleen Brandner said she introduced KeyTrain to her algebra 3-4 honors class at the beginning of the semester. "We spent three days in the computer lab," Brandner said.

Career and technical education classes, she said, on average "take their students weekly to the computer labs to work on Key Train."

According to www.keytrain.com, over the course of the semester, students take seven lessons each on applied math and reading, plus exercises on workplace etiquette. The computer software allows students to go at their own pace.

Introduced in limited capacities in 2004, "U-46 began using KeyTrain on a more widespread basis last year, after seeing that (the program) brought scores on the WorkKeys portion of the test up," Donausky said.

According to www.schooldata4all.org, which provides WorkKeys performance information for Illinois schools, 26.6 percent of U-46 juniors scored a five out of a possible seven points on the applied mathematics portion of the test in 2004-2005. And 22.1 percent of students scored a five on reading for information that year.

In 2005-2006, 29.9 percent of juniors scored a five on the math portion. 32.9 percent of students tested scored a five on reading for information.

O'Neill, who received a 28 on his practice ACT, said KeyTrain isn't helping him "at all." The system, Larkin Principal Richard Webb countered, "is what works for us right now with the staffing and funding that we have."

While O'Neill could be missing out on 20 percent of history lessons this semester, Donausky said the program's reading comprehension lessons "can be easily worked into the regular curriculum, benefiting both gifted and challenged students."

"Even if a student scores a 28 on a practice ACT, there's always room to improve. A perfect score's a 36," he said.