A little testing. A little college and career info. A little chat about the big picture.

Gunn Guidance Department

On Wednesday, October 14, we’re going to do something we’ve never done before: we’re devoting an entire morning to college admittance test preparation and career exploration. For seniors, there will also be some work on stress reduction and pondering some bigger questions, such as, “What does it mean to be truly happy?”

What are we doing?

• 9th graders – EXPLORE
• 10th graders – PLAN
• 11th graders – PSAT
• 12th graders – Guest speaker; College and career activities;

Schedule
8:15 - approximately Noon

• EXPLORE
• PLAN
• PSAT

Senior activities
8:45 – 12:15

• Speaker: Fred Luskin
• Breakout Session 1 – ROCK/student led discussions in a debrief regarding Dr. Luskin’s talk
• Breakout Session 2 – College and career topics
• Breakout Session 3 – College and career topics
• Each session is 45 minutes long

No afternoon classes
Homecoming class game and (possibly) float stuffing

What is EXPLORE & PLAN?

• First 2 assessments of ACT’s Educational Planning and Assessment System (EPAS)
• Consists of 4 academic achievement tests: English, Math, Reading, and Science
• Plus, contains an interest inventory and needs assessment
• Content of both tests closely mirrors ACT
• Scores correlate with established college/post- secondary readiness benchmarks

Why not just rely on STAR results?

• Results are more specific than STAR and allows for more focused interventions, course planning, school profile with more detail
• Provides career interest information
• Needs assessment based on student’s perceived needs
• Links students with relevant college and scholarship information
• Score is an indicator of success on ACT

What is the PSAT?

• Prep Test for the SAT
• Test designed for 11th graders
• Results can lead to scholarships