What ACT prep options do you offer for students?
Jane Ross Tutoring offers in-person workshops, the Online ACT Course and private tutoring for students.
What’s included in an in-person workshop?
The ACT workshop includes the content our instructors have been sharing with test takers for almost 50 years. Students will learn strategies for all four parts of the test with a focus on timing strategies and a review of critical material students need to know for the test. The workshop is six hours long and typically offered the week before a national ACT test date. Throughout the year, workshops are available in Memphis, Jackson and Nashville. Workshops that are open for registration are listed on the website.
How does the Online ACT Course work?
The Online ACT Course includes on-demand training that gives students individual unlimited access to our strategies and instruction. The online version of the training includes a variety of activities and assignments that simulate and reinforce the face-to-face workshop. The course is delivered using a university learning management system and includes a series of streaming instructional videos. Interactive quizzes are used in conjunction with the videos so that students practice skills and strategies soon after learning them. The quizzes provide immediate automated feedback so that students can learn from their mistakes. The instructional units are designed in a tiered system so that students must master one level before the subsequent level becomes available. The levels increase in difficulty until ultimately the most advanced ACT skills are covered as the final instructional activity within each unit.
The course is self-paced and remains accessible while the monthly subscription is active. Students can sign up and cancel anytime.
Can a student focus on just one section (English, math, reading or science)?
Students can focus on just one section by purchasing an individual module of the Online ACT Course. While the full version of the Online ACT Course is offered as a monthly subscription, the individual module purchase is a one-time charge that opens access for a six-month period. If a student wants to focus on one section only, purchasing the individual module is a good choice. If a student wants to focus on two or more sections, the monthly subscription to the full Online ACT Course is probably a better choice. The content in the Online ACT Course and individual modules is identical; there’s no reason to purchase both.
Do you offer one-on-one tutoring (and is it online)?
Yes, we offer private tutoring. Students can choose online tutoring via a webinar or in-person private tutoring in the Memphis, Jackson or Nashville area. Call the office to request a referral to a qualified tutor.
Should we try individual tutoring before a workshop, after a workshop or instead of a workshop?
If a student has never completed any test prep before, the workshop is probably the best place to start. The workshops take a general approach to training for all parts of the test and build a solid foundation as a starting point. Individual tutoring can then be viewed as customized training sessions after the solid foundation is established. Often our students take a workshop first and then take the test. If more training is needed, individual tutoring would be recommended, not another workshop.
However, some students have specific areas for needed improvement and would not benefit as much from a general approach. On occasion, we will work with students who have terrific math scores but low verbal scores (or the other way around). Instead of a workshop, individual tutoring would be recommended so they can work on only the skills that need to be improved.
Do you guarantee improvement after a workshop?
Yes, we do! If a student takes one of our ACT workshops in Memphis, Jackson or Nashville and does not improve on the next ACT test, we will allow them to take the workshop again at no charge. Simply provide our office with copies of the test scores before and after the workshop, and we’ll take it from there.
What is the average increase after a workshop?
We estimate a 2–3 point increase on average. Since the scores are private information, we have to rely on students to give us feedback. As a result, we do not have data on all workshop participants. Some students contact us to report extremely impressive gains, with improvements of 4, 6 or 8 points!
The score improvement is really tied to where the student begins on the scoring scale. A student who begins at a 17, for example, might reasonably gain 6 points with a lot of work and practice. However, a student who starts with a 32 would have to work really hard to improve just a couple of points.
You can read a few student testimonials on our home page.
Can a school bring Jane Ross Tutoring on site to provide a workshop for students?
Yes, one of the most popular services we offer to schools in an on-site workshop. The student workshop includes six hours of instruction that focuses on the content of the four sections of the ACT as well as helpful testing strategies.
The full-day training includes:
Instructors use authentic materials during the training. We produce our own curriculum, which is delivered to students as a workbook that includes an actual ACT test. The workbook includes guided notes that accompany the presentation, and students complete a portion of the practice ACT test during the session, too. At the end of the training, students keep all the materials, which they may use for additional practice and review.
We also offer on-site workshops for the PSAT and SAT.
What is the teacher professional development option like for schools and districts?
The Jane Ross Tutoring professional development sessions show teachers ways to improve students’ scores by integrating ACT prep into their regular classroom instruction and assessment.
This training works best if teachers could be separated by content area. Usually, schools create a schedule where one session includes math and science teachers (and others whose content area would relate), while a separate session includes English and social studies teachers (and others whose content area would relate). The Jane Ross trainer then works through the math and science sections of the test with one group and the English and reading sections with the other group. It’s best to set aside three hours per session for a total of six hours of training. School leaders can provide a full day of their own PD at the same time; we would simply work with the assigned groups in half-day sessions and then switch groups after lunch.
These sessions provide teachers with a basic overview of the test structure and scoring. Teachers will also learn content-specific strategies to share with students and how to incorporate ACT-style prep into instruction. Participants will analyze and review actual questions from each of the tests and examine data from previous test administrations.
Call or email for a professional development quote!
Can schools use the Jane Ross materials to provide their own ACT workshops/bootcamps?
Yes! Jane Ross Tutoring will license the rights to the agency’s presentations for student workshops for school or district use. The rights include access to multiple Google Slides presentations, designated for the math and science sections or the English and reading sections of the ACT. Each presentation contains approximately 110 slides and is based on Jane Ross Tutoring’s 45+ years of success in the test prep industry. Each presentation includes instruction for a 90-minute session for each section of the ACT. Thus, the presentation would last approximately three hours for the English/reading workshop and another three hours for the math/science workshop. Jane Ross Tutoring will license the rights for two versions of our presentations, known as the Heritage workshop and Advanced workshop. Schools/districts must purchase student workbooks from Jane Ross Tutoring under this agreement. The workbook includes the guided notes and practice tests that accompany the presentation. The experience is just like our in-person workshops, but these bootcamps are facilitated by the teachers at the school. This provides maximum flexibility in terms of scheduling and the frequency of the bootcamps.
Who is the Higher Scores curriculum designed for?
The Higher Scores curriculum is an all-in-one solution for teaching ACT prep courses or integrating ACT prep into regular content area classes. Each lesson is aligned to the College and Career Readiness Standards, is formatted for the Enhanced ACT, and includes a teacher lesson plan, student handouts and Google Slides with speaker notes. Teachers will be fully equipped to deliver effective ACT prep using resources that have been developed by the ACT test-prep experts since 1978.
The curriculum is offered as an annual subscription that provides access to the curriculum for a full school year. Schools and districts will have an opportunity to renew the license annually. The curriculum includes lessons that cover all skills and content for the English section (~20 lessons), math section (~20 lessons) and reading section (~10 lessons). Each lesson is designed to fill a 60– to 75–minute class period.
Jane Ross Tutoring offers three tiers of curriculum access, based on whether your school wants resources in digital or printed form. More information about the curriculum is available at higheractscores.com.
Does Jane Ross Tutoring offer practice testing for schools?
Yes, we believe in the power of practice testing! Practice testing gives valuable feedback to teachers and administrators regarding their students’ strengths and weaknesses. The Jane Ross testing service includes an ACT booklet and set of four scanners for each student. The test is administered at the school and can be given through the content area classes. The scanners are returned to Jane Ross along with a data file of students’ ID numbers. Jane Ross staff then score the tests and prepare all accompanying reports.
The school receives a score sheet for each student. This student-level report mimics the report used by ACT, Inc. when students buy their answer from the company after one of the national tests. Schools also receive a roster of all students and their scores as well as histograms for each subtest. The most meaningful report, however, is the item analysis for all questions on the pretest. The item analysis reveals what percentage of test takers answered each option for each question. This allows teachers and administrators a window into the mind of the test takers and shows what types of questions and skills need priority attention in subsequent test-prep efforts.
A representative from Jane Ross would be available to meet with school and district officials to discuss the results after the practice test. We want educators to have a full understanding of what the practice test results mean for the students and chart a path for appropriate remediation and/or intervention. Jane Ross staff will unpack all of the valuable information contained in this report (and others) in order to focus schools’ efforts for their students.
Teachers can begin to address specific weaknesses only after they identify them. That’s the main purpose of practice testing with Jane Ross Tutoring.