ACT Scores Improve in All Four Subject Areas for Juniors at Mississippi School of the Arts

BROOKHAVEN, Miss., May 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Nestled in historic downtown Brookhaven, Mississippi is a hidden educational jewel - the Mississippi School of the Arts (MSA). The school is filled with students from all over Mississippi who have big dreams and with faculty who strive to help them reach their goals. For some, a big hurdle is achieving an impressive ACT score so that scholarships and dreams of free college tuition become a reality. This is where the implementation of Jumpstart Test Prep (Jumpstart) aids students. Jumpstart recently released ACT improvement results from MSA, whose junior class used the Jumpstart Complete ACT prep review to prepare for the state-administered February 2021 ACT® exam (American College Testing). Following completion of Jumpstart's complete ACT prep review, over 60 percent of the students had an average ACT English score improvement of +4.81 points over their best prior attempt. Similarly, the school had 56 percent of its students improving their Science scores by an average of +2.85 points and more than 60 percent improving by an average of +3.81 points in Reading and +2.4 points in Math test sub-scores.

Debra Henderson, principal at MSA, said, "We at MSA really like the Jumpstart Test Prep program and believe that it helps our kids succeed on the ACT. If the kids put in the work and do the program, they will see great results." Director at MSA, Dr. Suzanne Hirsch commented, "Jumpstart is a great program that offers a very succinct review for students to prepare for the ACT exam. Our teachers worked hard to deliver the program as prescribed by Jumpstart co-founder and former MSA teacher Dot McClendon. It was used as a review of content and practice within the few weeks before our juniors re-tested on the ACT in February. The online, on-demand ACT review Dot has created gets results," Hirsh affirmed. All juniors at MSA received subject area preparation through Jumpstart within their classes or after school through an individualized schedule around a rigorous school day. Hirsch continued, "We are proud of the efforts of our students and teachers to prepare for this important test. These scores will be life-changing for college acceptance and scholarship offers. MSA students traditionally have extraordinarily high scholarship offers to college and receive career training through a seminar format and college preparation. Jumpstart Test Prep is an exceptional addition to our programming. Together, we know our students will be given the best chance for success!"

Multiple MSA students were recognized for their improvement results and shared their thoughts about the program. Sydney Knotts, who saw a +8 improvement in her English sub-score, commented, "Jumpstart Test Prep made the difference for me by going over small things I haven't seen in a while. The program did a really good job of encompassing all of the necessary aspects of each subject and that helped me succeed." Molly LeBlanc shared, "The biggest difference about Jumpstart was that it helped me significantly with my time management skills. Because of Jumpstart I was able to completely finish the ACT this time and I think that really helped my score improve." LeBlanc achieved a +8 improvement on her English sub-score, going from a 15 to a 23. Ashley Charles, who reached a +5 improvement in Math, agreed with Leblanc, "Jumpstart helped because it taught me time management and it also went over a lot of things I had forgotten from several grades ago." Madison White had significant improvements and was the highest achiever at MSA, raising from a 26 to a perfect score of 36 in Reading and a 22 to a 28 on her overall composite score. White said, "Jumpstart basically helped me re-learn Math. It taught me things I had completely forgotten and hadn't seen in a very long time."

Jumpstart Test Prep is an online review program based on over 60 years of work by Dot McClendon, a legendary educator and Mississippi's 19-year STAR teacher hall-of-fame inductee. "As a teacher at The Mississippi School of the Arts and several other schools during my career, I was able to help guide the preparation of students in person," said McClendon. "Now through our online, on-demand video review, students in MSA classrooms, as well as classrooms around the country, around the breakfast table, or on the couch at home, are able to benefit from our approach."

All juniors at MSA had access to the followmissiing resources:

• Expert content review and practice, along with test-taking tips and strategies delivered in the classroom via streaming video
• Online, on-demand, 24-hour review (36 modules, approximately 40 minutes each) of English, Math, Reading, and Science content tested by the ACT® that could be led from the classroom or used individually by students
• Consumable student workbooks for each subject area to be completed in conjunction with lecture content and later used as a student study guide
• Online assessments for the Math and English review areas which linked students back to their weaker areas reviewed in the Jumpstart module content

School administrators utilized an online dashboard reflecting the video module completion progress of teachers assigned to proctor the review and/or individual student progress.

More information about Jumpstart Test Prep can be found at www.jumpstarttestprep.com. For media information, contact [email protected]

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Juniors at the Mississippi School of the Arts Achieve Significant Improvements on their ACT Scores
Juniors at the Mississippi School of the Arts were recently recognized for reaching significant ACT score improvements. From left: Molly LeBlanc, Sydney Knotts, Ashley Charles and Madison White.

SOURCE Jumpstart Test Prep