Amid the TOPS fiasco facing the special legislative session, students are scrambling to preserve their academic fates as the in-state scholarship hangs in the balance.
However, 29-year-old Craig Gehring remains optimistic as he plans to continue raising more than a quarter of a million high school students’ ACT scores to qualify for the statewide scholarship, which could become more exclusive if state officials cannot find the money to fully fund the program.
“TOPS is a wonderful program and has helped countless Louisiana students throughout the years,” Gehring said. “No matter what happens with it this year, the ACT will continue to be an important factor in college admissions for Louisiana families, and we will be here to help students get ready for it.”
A Baton Rouge Magnet High graduate, Gehring started operating his ACT preparation business, MasteryPrep, from the walls of the Louisiana Technology Park incubator in 2012. What began as a desire to improve test scores for lower-scoring students turned into a successful business enterprise that now serves approximately 600 schools in the southeast region.
As a junior in high school, Gehring made perfect scores on both the ACT and SAT the first times he took each. Shortly after, he found himself answering phone calls from parents asking him to tutor their children.
Despite his immaculate testing record, Gehring did not attend college.
“I think that I’m sort of hardwired to two conflicting things: I’m hardwired to be an educator, but I’m also hardwired to be an entrepreneur,” Gehring said.
He said most of his students wanted to qualify for TOPS, which, at the time, required a 21 composite score on the ACT.
After trying out different preparation programs with his clients, he said he realized most of them did not adequately cater to lower-scoring students.
Gehring then decided to develop the first version of his program, called ACT Mastery, to meet the needs of his clientele. He piloted the program in “a couple schools” and with groups of about 100 students each and saw average gains of three points.
With a software program, iPhone and Android app, original curriculum and private tutoring sessions, he said the
MasteryPrep program proves innovative and distinctive.
“We’re working through the schools,” Gehring said. “Students get to access our program for free, and schools pay for it.”
After partnering with the Baton Rouge Youth Coalition, he said MasteryPrep helped a student earn a full-ride QuestBridge scholarship to Colby College, an exclusive arts college in Maine, by raising his ACT score from a 21 to a 27. He said this is just one example of the program’s results.
Though psychology and sociology senior Felicia Chaisson did not take an ACT preparatory course, she said she did not find it necessary after scoring a 24.
But she said she thinks the TOPS dilemma will force more high school students to aim for higher grades and scores. She also said more of an emphasis might be put on the SAT, as a hit to in-state tuition could cause students to travel elsewhere for college.
“I have a feeling if they get rid of TOPS completely, you’re going to see a decrease in applications to state colleges,” Chaisson said.
The only time athletic training sophomore Connor Aleman took the ACT was when his high school offered it for free. He said the hefty price tag hindered him from taking it additional times.
Aleman said he thinks the special session will prompt higher education leaders to raise the ACT score to qualify for college acceptance and TOPS.
In the past decade, Gehring said testing has become increasingly important. Despite the TOPS uncertainty, he said testing will remain an integral part of students’ opportunities in the years to come.
“It’s sort of a pendulum and it’s starting to swing back,” he said.

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Chart courtesy of the ACT.org national score report.