Tulsa Student Earns Perfect ACT Score: Takes Credit For Being Prepared

Education News

Two Tulsa students scored a perfect 36 on the ACT — each on their first try, according to a recent article published in the Tulsa World.

Was this a result of the students’ teachers using Marzano’s best practices on them? Did they have nothing but superior teachers on the Tulsa TLE? Did high-stakes tests prepare these students for perfect ACT scores?

Not according to one of these students.

Instead, Cameron Alred believes most of the accountability lies with him:

Alred said he estimates that doing well on the ACT is about 50 percent being mentally and physically prepared, such as sleeping well and eating a good breakfast; 25 percent coursework; and 25 percent luck.

(Emphasis is mine.)

So, in other words, this student, who is apparently an expert in successful ACT test-taking, believes that getting a good night’s sleep and eating a good breakfast helped him do well on the test?

This makes one wonder about all those students who are living in poverty-stricken homes where they don’t know when the next meal is coming, and where no one insists they get a good night’s sleep.

Personally, I think one can also include a student’s inherent mental capacity for taking four-hour tests should also be factored into that initial 50 percent.

That said, I think Alred is exactly right about where accountability for his success lies.

 

About the author 

Michelle Boyd Waters, M.Ed.

Michelle taught secondary ELA in public schools for 10 years. She served as an award-winning journalist before transitioning into education and is now Assistant Director of the OU Writing Center and a teacher consultant for the Oklahoma Writing Project. Michelle co-edited the Oklahoma English Journal for five years. She is a PhD candidate in Instructional Leadership and Academic Curriculum at the University of Oklahoma. She started reThink ELA LLC as a teacher blog in 2012.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

{"email":"Email address invalid","url":"Website address invalid","required":"Required field missing"}