Baldwin County Public Schools (BCPS) will be using a new model for ACT Boot Camp to help provide students with individualized tools they need to excel in the ACT.

Tom Hartner, secondary curriculum coordinator for BCPS, said the ACT Boot Camp will offer one-day sessions of "intensive, targeted instruction" to help students "become more familiar with the ACT format." The boot camp works to improve students' ACT scores and "enhance their ACT performance."

"Higher ACT scores can increase college admissions opportunities, enhance scholarship eligibility and better prepare students for post-secondary success," Hartner said.

Most of BCPS's high schools will be offering the program for all current grade 11 students enrolled, Hartner said. The program's sessions will be held on a Saturday, lasting "roughly 4.5 hours," leading up to the ACT exam, currently scheduled for mid-March.

"Students should contact their school administration or counselor for more details regarding dates, start/end times and registration process," Hartner said.

Before the new ACT Boot Camp program was approved at the Jan. 16 Baldwin County Board of Education (BCBE) meeting, the school system hired "a third-party vendor" for the boot camps. Now the schools will be trying "a different model this year."

"We have exceptional educators within our own district, and we want to utilize them for a more homegrown effort," Hartner said. "Over the past few years, we have been partnering with ACT to train our teachers through the ACT AIM (ACT Instructional Mastery) Certification Program."

Hartner said this certification provides BCBE educators with the "skills and expertise" needed for ACT preparation. He said the ACT Boot Camp, which is free for student participation, "aims to improve" student success in ACT scores across the district creating a "win-win scenario" for schools and students.

The new model will focus on instruction in small groups, Hartner said, to create more student-teacher interaction that leads to an increase in "student engagement and learning outcomes." Hartner said the previously used third-party vendor, while "great," used large-scale classroom lectures for ACT training.

According to Hartner, the use of the district's educators, rather than an outside party, will allow for "targeted, individualized instruction" that is more suitable to the curriculum used by BCPS.

"These teachers understand our students' needs and course pacing throughout the year, allowing for a more relevant and personalized learning experience," Hartner said.

He said the boot camps will focus on "test structure, scoring system, goal setting, test-taking strategies" for each section of the ACT. The boot camps will also provide opportunities for students to "apply these strategies in a structured setting."

Hartner said additional free ACT Boot Camps will be offered through the summer for BCBE students in grades 7-11 with more information scheduled to be sent out "later this spring."