MANCHESTER, NH – The Manchester Board of School Committee voted Monday night to approve an expanded College Board testing and career planning day for district high schools, a plan that includes early release for underclassmen and off-campus career exploration options for seniors.
Presented by Joyce Lewis, the district’s director of comprehensive school counseling, the plan expands the use of College Board assessments to include the PSAT 8/9, PSAT 10 and the SAT administered during the school day. The testing will replace iReady assessments at the high school level and is intended to provide consistent data on student growth while familiarizing students with SAT-style testing earlier in their academic careers.
Testing will take place at March 24 at Manchester Central High School, March 25 at Manchester Memorial High School and the Manchester School of Technology, and March 26 at Manchester West High School. Students in grades 9 through 11 will spend up to four hours testing, beginning with breakfast provided by the district, followed by lunch and dismissal around 12:45 p.m., pending final logistics.
Lewis told the board the early release request is driven by student fatigue and the intensity of the testing day.
“After prolonged concentration and cognitive effort, asking students to return to regular academic classes would be excessive,” Lewis said. “We want to change the culture around testing and support students in doing their best.”
Seniors will not participate in testing but will instead have the option to complete a “future planning day,” which may include college visits, job shadowing, volunteering, career exploration through the district’s Xello platform, or credit recovery work. Participation in off-campus activities would require parental permission.
High school principals spoke in support of the plan, emphasizing the need to minimize distractions and create a focused testing environment.
“Providing seniors the opportunity to explore life after high school without requiring them to be in the building is a critical first step,” said Manchester West High School Principal Richard Dichard, who believed that the proposal would help raise test scores. “It would be a disservice to expect students to return to classes after testing.”
The board approved the plan unanimously.
