Online courses to help all Maine high school juniors get ready for their SATs are being offered free, Gov. John Baldacci and Maine Education Commissioner Susan Gendron announced Thursday.
For the next three years, the Chicago-based PrepMe.com company will allow every junior in Maine to use its program without cost to students, schools or the state.
The cost of the company’s “Gold Program” is usually $300.
Maine mandates that all high school juniors take the SATs in place of other standardized tests as a way to encourage more to go to college. That means between 1,500 to 1,600 Maine juniors will take the SAT on Saturday, May 5.
During the week of April 23, juniors will take a math augmentation exam of about 20 questions at school.
PrepMe is donating its tests “because they’re impressed by Maine’s initiative and want to be a part of it,” said Maine Department of Education spokesman David Connerty-Marin. “They’re a start-up company. They’re looking for a baseline like this and want to see the results.”
The course is a series of assessments with material designed to help students “polish and refine what they’ve learned to see where their weak spots are,” Connerty-Marin said. Getting the prep courses free “is a huge deal,” he said. “It’s one more way to level the playing field for all students. We want to make sure every kid does their personal best on the test.”
The online courses will be individualized for each student. “And the teachers and principals can log in and see how their students and school are doing,” Connerty-Marin said. “They can see areas where they should be focusing. It’s kind of a mini-assessment.”
Baldacci and Gendron announced the initiative Thursday at Portland High School. During that media event, students tried out the PrepMe.com course, Connerty-Marin said.
Most colleges require SAT scores for acceptance.
The tests will be available to high school juniors in the next several weeks.
High schools will be sent information on the program, but may also find out more by going to the PrepMe.com Web site. At that site, there’s a link for Maine high schools, Connerty-Marin said.
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