Putnam County Schools using an online program called “Shmoop” to help students prepare to take the ACT.
Future Ready Supervisor Sam Brooks said Shmoop analyzes a student’s awareness of the ACT curriculum. Brooks said students take a practice test, and then it creates a diagnostic based on a student’s strengths and weaknesses.
“It’s a pretty good indicator of where they are as far as ACT questions,” Brooks said. “It uses actual ACT questions that are on the test and have been on the test for years. And again analyzes the student’s score and gives feedback.”
Brooks said Putnam County one of the first school districts in Tennessee to partner with Shmoop several years ago. Brooks said the great thing about Shmoop is that students can use the program outside of school.
“That was one of the requirements for the vendor that we had going in is that we want it to be available for every Putnam County student in middle school and high school,” Brooks said. “Because along with the test prep becomes an AP, Advanced Placement Test Prep that teachers have used across the district.”
Brooks said improving ACT scores is a focus for the school district. Brooks said like other school districts, Putnam County took a hit in ACT scores during the covid pandemic. Brooks said most improvement in district-wide scores will come from helping students who are scoring anywhere from 14-18 on the ACT.
“There are a lot more of those students,” Brooks said. “You know, the students that are knocking it out and making a 25-36. You know, their improvement there are not as many of those kids, so any improvement that they have is not going to necessarily affect the outcome of the district very much. So, really working on those students who are making a 14-18 range is where we really feel like Shmoop is going to help us over time.”
Shmoop is a Yiddish word meaning “to move something forward a bit.”
Brooks said the school district is going to make an effort to let students and families know that they have access to Shmoop. Brooks said many families may not even know that the school system provides Shmoop as a resource.
