All eighth graders take Spanish placement test for high school

The two-part Spanish placement exam was administered on February 17 through student’s first period class.

On February 17, all eighth grade students took the Spanish placement test.  They are required to take the Spanish test, so high schools can place the incoming ninth graders in the correct Spanish course.  The students take the Spanish test on their Chromebooks on a website called Illuminate.

MacArthur students have been taking the Spanish test for four years now.  The Spanish test is used to see what level of Spanish to place students in.  It is also used for if students chose a different language then they didn’t have any room left in any of the classes they place you in a Spanish class.

The test took some students one hour, but if students did not finish, they received an extra hour in the PAR.  Once they finish in the PAR students returned to class. Eighth-grader Alexa Vera said, “The Spanish test wasn’t that hard for me.”

If the student get at least 70% on the multiple choice then the language arts teachers will grade the students essay part.  This is the second year that they do the Spanish test on Illuminate. Illuminate is a website that Santa Ana Unified uses to coordinate data.

MacArthur is not the only school that takes the two-part Spanish test.  High school counselors and administrators want to ensure that as many students as possible are placed correctly.