Oliva: ACT Aspire to be replaced with LEARNS in mind

New student assessment test will be in place in spring of 2024, Oliva says

Secretary of Education Jacob Oliva, left, and  Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders answer questions from the audience about the LEARNS act during a town hall discussion at the Cabot Veterans Park Event Center on Monday, May 22, 2023.

(Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Stephen Swofford)
Secretary of Education Jacob Oliva, left, and Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders answer questions from the audience about the LEARNS act during a town hall discussion at the Cabot Veterans Park Event Center on Monday, May 22, 2023. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Stephen Swofford)

CABOT -- State education officials are working on replacing the ACT Aspire with a standardized test specifically geared toward Arkansas students, Education Secretary Jacob Oliva said during a town hall discussion Monday.

Responding to a question about new literacy standards under the LEARNS Act, Oliva said the Department of Education is looking to do away with the ACT Aspire, an end-of-the-year test given to students in third through 10th grades that measures English, reading, writing, math and science. The test is meant to be predictive of a student's readiness for college, but the education secretary said a new test will be better oriented to the state's new standards.

"We are in the process of putting a new assessment in place that will hit the schools in the spring of 2024," Oliva said.

Oliva

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