New testing is coming to Niles High School beginning this fall.

In a unanimous vote Monday, the Niles Community Schools Board of Education approved eliminating the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) test for an assessment called ACT Aspire.

It only applies to students in grades ninth through 11th at the high school.

Angie Cramer, director of curriculum, said using ACT Aspire will allow the district to better track a student’s progress toward the actual ACT — a test that predicts college and career readiness and impacts whether or not a student can get into a specific college.

“It can give us really good predictors and ranges for what we could anticipate an ACT score for our students,” she said.

Ninth and 10th graders will take the ACT “interim” assessment in the fall and winter. Another test called the ACT “summative” assessment, which closely mirrors the ACT itself, will be administered in the spring.

Eleventh grade students will take an ACT practice test in the fall that will identify their individual strengths and weaknesses.

“This will allow the teachers to have test talks with the students so that they can have a better idea of what they need to do to get the score they want,” she said.

Cramer said Niles High had been using the NWEA for several years.

Grades kindergarten through eighth will still use the NWEA.

Also Monday, the school board approved the purchase of new math text and materials for sixth, seventh and eighth grades, Algebra 1, Algebra 2, Geometry and Pre-Calculus.

It cost about $130,000.

Cramer said it has been several years since the district has updated its math text books and materials.

A committee will be formed this fall to study the district’s needs for new math materials in grades kindergarten through fifth and for probabilities and statistics at the high school.