I had to change the headline to get it to fit CC’s character count. To me, this is entirely predictable.
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/25/us/act-coronavirus-students-oklahoma-edmond-trnd/index.html
Should have tested for Covid-19 prior to being eligible to sit in a crowded test room for several hours, not the day after the test was given.
Or did the two students test earlier & just get their coronavirus test results back the day after sitting for the ACT ? Regardless, testing & test results should have been required prior to be permitted admission into the testing building.
Taking these standardized tests put everyone there in exactly the best situation to catch COVID: they are 1) indoors with 2) more than 10 people for 3) a long time. Anything more than 15 minutes is a risk! Add in that apparently many were not wearing masks, and you kind of have a perfect storm.
This is why my S21 will not be taking any standardized tests this year. All the schools on his list are test-optional and if necessary he will submit his PSAT score.
The ACT company recommended but did not require masks so it is unfortunate that most of these kids weren’t wearing masks. I think parents need to speak up and insist that the host site require masks.
I posted about Covid-exposed kids showing up at my local private school’s ACT this month. There had been an outbreak due to a party that some of the rising seniors went to. It was clear from social media to many of the other kids who was at the party and who had already tested positive. But at least two kids with recent exposure to the diagnosed kids showed up at the ACT. Both parents and students had been told that they could not test if they had been exposed to someone with the virus in the last 14 days. Students were even asked this question upon arrival at the test but they were not honest. It was other students at the test that contacted the school administrators about the covid-exposed kids.
Our local site did require masks. I think parents should demand that the test sites require masks.
My state requires masks when indoors, so when DD sits for the SAT next month, everyone is expected to be masked. I am hoping they will socially distance the kids, as the kids aren’t supposed to sit too close for this test anyway. And I am saving our one N95 for the occasion.
I would love for them to be able to covid-test all kids before being seated for the SAT or ACT, but tests aren’t readily available and results aren’t coming fast enough to be of much use. Some test centers around me are taking a week to get results back. Plenty of time to get a negative result then get infected to the point of being contagious after-the-fact.
I personally think that everyone in the test center should be required to wear a mask and socially distance 6’, maybe even take temps at the door. Kids removing their masks for more than 10 seconds (time enough to take a deep breath, adjust a mask, or swap it out for a new one at the ready) during the test should be flagged the same as cheaters, because under this policy they would indeed have violated testing rules.
I am glad DD will have the opportunity to take the test, but I don’t think ACT or SAT should be playing around here. Everyone knows the guidelines by now. There is no excuse for failing to plan accordingly in terms of everything from personal space, to room capacity, to having additional proctors, to masking rules, etc. And we need to reiterate to our teens that if someone is coughing and sneezing all over your back, whether in a test site or in a newly reopened classroom, kindness still counts but some of the old rules don’t - you need to raise your hand and speak up, and the sooner the better.
The ACT didn’t require them because the laws are different not just from state to state but also from county to county in some places.
There’s a series of Covid questions. I don’t blame the ACT, they are a minor variable in the debacle that is America’s response to the epidemic. We need to do better as a nation.