By GINNY COOPER/Staff Writer

COLUMBIANA—Shelby County schools will see a change in standardized testing, Scott Mohon announced at an April 17 BOE meeting.

Mohon, supervisor of academic data collection, data management, accountability, testing and guidance for Shelby County Schools, said the new system will still “use assessment to measure students’ progress.”

Under the new system, the ACT Aspire will replace the Alabama Reading and Math Test. The new test, which also assesses students’ math and reading skills, will require only one hour of testing for each subject.

“This (creates) more time for instruction,” Mohon said. “Kids will be in the classroom learning, which is exactly where they should be.”

Explore and Plan, ACT QualityCore and ACT WorkKeys, a job skills assessment system, will also be administed under the new testing system.

The ACT, a standardized test required by many colleges, will be administered to all 11^th grade students free of charge by the state, an opportunity Mohon said is “absolutely incredible” for students.

“We now have a vertically aligned assessment system for the first time ever,” Mohon said.