Over the Christmas break the Student Assessment of Chicago Public Schools sent an email out to the CPS teachers.

The email had stated that CPS teachers should avoid test prep for juniors because of the change from ACT to SAT. This email left both teachers and students into a state of confusion. Students and teachers will be affected by this change coming into 2016.

“The change is unnecessary because the board of education and most of the teachers have basically been focusing on the practicing for the ACT and now with the change it would take longer for us to be prepare for the SAT,” said junior Diego Reyna.

This controversy has been going on with the decision of CPS teachers striking this February 2016. The Illinois budget has not been confirmed by Illinois governor Bruce Rauner and therefore thousands of teachers are said to be laid off. The strike is said to last for weeks and even about 2 months.

This will extremely affect the methods and timeliness in how teachers will prepare the juniors for this new college entry exam. They will have less time to have test prep, such as Kaplan, and have to take alternatives in order to be prepared for the exam.

“I will take time on my own to study because I want to try my best even so I am taking the ACT before, therefore I will find practice exams online and focus on the math, since it’s the largest portion of the test,” said Reyna.

However, some students here at Phoenix are recommended to take both the ACT and SAT to have more information to give to colleges when applying to them their senior year.

This email and the change has caused serious conflicts between the school board, teachers, and the students. All of CPS is riding on what the school board and the governor says because it can easily affect their college career.