ACT & College and Career Readiness

THE STATE OF ARKANSAS

Scott Montgomery, Vice President Policy, Advocacy, and Government Relations

What Drives Us

Our MissionRelentless focus on the individual: for 56 years, ACT’s mission has been to help people achieve education and workplace success.

Our ApproachWe work closely with state and district leaders to understand their specific needs for high-quality student assessments, and we engage national policymakers to understand emerging assessment trends.

Our ResearchFifty-plus years of assessment data and information have provided a basis for our development of assessments designed to provide insights into the readiness of students for postsecondary success.

2014 ACT Aspire: The first next generation assessment administration, grade 3 to college-entry assessment system

2012 ACT and Pearson launch ACT Aspire

2011 Two federally funded state consortia begin assessment development work

2010 Common Core State Standards complete

2010 ACT begins development of next-generation college and career readiness assessment system

2009 ACT convenes chief state school officers to begin thinking about the “next generation of college and career assessments”

2008 Joint CCSSO/NGA call for common state standards

2007 CCSSO engages chiefs in discussion on ‘national standards’ – later renamed Common Core

2004 NGA proposes college and career readiness initiative

2003 ACT produces empirically-based, predictive College Readiness Benchmarks

1997 ACT first to produce comprehensive body of empirically-based College & Career Readiness Standards

1987 ACT begins first comprehensive college and career readiness research initiative

Chronology of Foundations and First

ACT’s Continuum of Solutions

ACT & Arkansas

ACT has worked with Arkansas students for 20 years

• In just the last five years, ACT has helped over 130,352 students and families prepare for life after high school

• In 2013-14, 26,821 (93%) of Arkansas high school graduates took the ACT• In 2013-14, there were 32,814 students who took the ACT Explore in the 8th grade with nearly 15,095

students meeting at least two college and career readiness benchmarks• Similarly 23,020 students took the ACT Plan in the 10th grade with over 10,819 meeting at least two

college and career readiness benchmarks• Over the past 8 years, nearly 48,669 individuals in Arkansas have earned a National Career Readiness

Certificate through WorkKeys at one of the three highest levels (Silver, Gold, or Platinum), qualifying them for over 13,400 unique job titles profiled by ACT.

Highlights from the ACT Condition of College and Career Readiness 2014 report

• 5,632 students met all four of the college and career ready benchmarks • Almost 16,898 of Arkansas students (63%) met the English College Readiness Benchmark• 91% of Arkansas’s 2014 ACT-tested graduates aspired to postsecondary education• 40% of ACT-tested graduates reported being interested in either a STEM major or career; only 21% are

prepared for first-year college coursework in STEM.

ACT Aspire• Launched on April 1, 2014: Already more than 3 million tests administered

• Summative 3-8 and 9th/10th grade assessments: English, Reading, Math, Science, and Writing; employing modular administration by subject and/or grade

• Multiple item types: Selected response, Constructed Response, and Technology Enhanced

• Computer-based delivery: Paper and pencil option

• Robust reporting: Student performance toward ACT College Readiness Standards and the CCSS; ACT Benchmark reporting; Student Growth; and Intervention Strategies

• ACT Aspire measures “other” critical areas needed for student success: STEM; Text Complexity; English Language Arts; Career Readiness

• Links to ACT College Readiness Benchmarks: and reports to the same constructs as the Common Core State Standards

• Other states using ACT Aspire (statewide): Alabama, South Carolina, and Wisconsin

• Districts/Schools are using ACT Aspire throughout the country, Including 11 schools right here in Arkansas

7

Time CommitmentSummative assessments (in Minutes)

Grade English Math Reading Science Writing

3 30 55 60 55 30

4 30 55 60 55 30

5 30 55 60 55 30

6 35 60 60 55 30

7 35 60 60 55 30

8 35 65 60 55 30

Early HS 40 65 60 55 30

Interim assessments are approximately 45 minutes

Classroom assessments are approximately 15 minutes

Sample Student Report

Sample Teacher Report

The ACTThe ACT remains the capstone for the ACT K-12 college and career assessment system.

New Capabilities: Available in paper and pencil as well as CBT; CBT format - debuting Spring 2015 (limited availability); Optional constructed response sections in mathematics, reading, and science; Additional new scores and reporting categories for stronger alignment to CCSS and ACT Aspire

Nationwide, more than 1.8 million students took the ACT in 2014. Almost 57% of all high school graduates.

In 2015, 21 states are administering the ACT Statewide: Arkansas (district choice), Alabama, Alaska (district choice), Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois (district choice), Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota (student choice), South Carolina, Tennessee (district choice), Utah, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Questions?

Scott MontgomeryVice President

Policy, Advocacy, and Government Relationsscott.montgomery@act.org | 319.337.1465