WCCUSD 12th Graders Take Free SAT Tests Today

By Bay City News

High school seniors in the West Contra Costa Unified School District are taking their SAT tests today -- on campus and at no charge.

The school district has partnered with the New York-based nonprofit the College Board to allow 12th-graders to take the tests at their schools for free. Typically, students pay $51 to take the SAT, and have to go to an off-site location on a Saturday.

School district spokesman Marin Trujillo said this is the first time the program, SAT School Day, is being implemented in a California school district. It aims to increase students' access to the test by bringing it to them. "We thought, what better place than the school site to do it?" he said.

Trujillo remembers that he had to go to the University of California at Berkeley to take the SAT when he was a high school senior. "It was scary and already stressful," he said. Taking the test in students' normal settings will add to their comfort level, he said. "The seriousness and integrity of the test remain the same, but they're doing it on familiar ground," Trujillo said.

Leslie Sepuka, spokeswoman for the College Board, which oversees the SAT testing process, said the SAT School Day program began in 2010 and has been implemented in school districts in 12 states. "It's grown, certainly -- right now the SAT will be administered during the school day to all public school juniors and/or seniors in Idaho," she said.

Sepuka said the program removes barriers for students who might not otherwise take the test because of job commitments or transportation issues. Districts are responsible for paying the costs of the on-campus testing, she said. Testing in the West Contra Costa Unified School District began at 9 a.m. today, Trujillo said.

Students in the 9th, 10th and 11th grades are taking the Preliminary Scholastic Achievement Test, or PSAT, today to prepare for the real test down the line. Staff members are wearing their college gear all day today as students take the exam. "College readiness is something real and tangible that we try to promote in our schools, and this is one of the ways that we're doing it," Trujillo said.