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ACT is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to help people achieve education and workplace success. To help fulfill that mission, ACT offers school-day testing programs that provide all students with state- or district-funded access to its college readiness and admissions assessment, removing barriers to testing and opening doors to postsecondary opportunities. During the 2021-2022 academic year, over 1.3 million students, across all 50 states and the District of Columbia, participated in ACT school-day testing through state or district testing programs. Of these 1.3 million students, it is estimated that 59% could be considered members of underserved student populations according to at least one criterion. In this brief, the authors describe six evidence-backed benefits of school-day ACT testing: (1) Removes Barriers to Testing; (2) Increases the Number of Students Identified as College Ready; (3) Increases the Number of Students Who Are Contacted by Colleges; (4) Provides a Complete Picture for Research; (5) Leads to Improvement in College Enrollment; and (6) Provides Valuable Information to Students Navigating Different Paths.

Many online platforms predominantly rank items by predicted user engagement. We believe that there is much unrealized potential in including non-engagement signals, which can improve outcomes both for platforms and for society as a whole. Based on a daylong workshop with experts from industry and academia, we formulate a series of propositions and document each as best we can from public evidence, including quantitative results where possible. There is strong evidence that ranking by predicted engagement is effective in increasing user retention. However retention can be further increased by incorporating other signals, including item "quality" proxies and asking users what they want to see with "item-level" surveys. There is also evidence that "diverse engagement" is an effective quality signal. Ranking changes can alter the prevalence of self-reported experiences of various kinds (e.g. harassment) but seldom have large enough effects on attitude measures like user satisfaction, well-being, polarization etc. to be measured in typical experiments. User controls over ranking often have low usage rates, but when used they do correlate well with quality and item-level surveys. There was no strong evidence on the impact of transparency/explainability on retention. There is reason to believe that generative AI could be used to create better quality signals and enable new kinds of user controls.

This paper documents the development of the Mosaic Readiness Index, a score that is reported for individuals who take the high school version of Mosaic by ACT®: Social Emotional Learning Assessment (hereafter referred to as the Mosaic assessment). The Mosaic Readiness Index is designed to predict high school academic outcomes--namely high school coursework, high school grades, and ACT test scores. Compared to the Mosaic assessment scores for individual constructs, the Mosaic Readiness Index more strongly predicts academic readiness because this index optimizes its prediction using item-level data. This paper describes the (a) rationale behind the index, (b) sample of data and statistical methods used for estimating the index's scoring parameters, and (c) results that show how well the index predicts academic readiness. The authors also document the development of the percentile ranks and score levels that are reported for the index and compare average scores for different groups of students.

Social and emotional (SE) skills are known to be linked to many important life outcomes, some of which fall in the academic domain. For example, meta-analytic analyses show that conscientiousness (a trait related to self-management, perseverance, and being organized and planful) accounts for 28% of the explained variance in academic performance even when controlling for cognitive ability (Mammadov, 2021). Data also reveal that SE skills are related to performance on standardized college entrance exams (Anguiano-Carrasco et al., 2022). In a recent study with long-term tracking of high school students, those who came from schools with a strong emphasis on SE skill development were more likely to enroll in college within two years of high school graduation (Jackson et al., 2022). There is, however, little research on SE skills predicting college enrollment. This study examines the extent to which SE skills have incremental validity in predicting postsecondary enrollment above socioeconomic status (SES), high school grade point average (HS GPA), and ACT Composite scores.

The research summarized in this paper examines the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on student performance on the ACT[TM] test. The author compares scores during the three years preceding the pandemic (2018, 2019, and early 2020) to scores in 2021 and 2022 while accounting for changes in the tested population across years. For students tested in 2022, the author also examines differences in mode of learning across demographic groups.

Social and emotional (SE) skills are known to be linked with many important life outcomes, including academic performance, performance on standardized college entrance exams, and college enrollment, although research on enrollment is limited. In this report, the authors present data points from a study that evaluated test-criterion validity evidence for the Mosaic Readiness Index (MRI), a composite index derived from multiple SE skill items from the MosaicTM by ACT®: Social Emotional Learning Assessment (ACT, 2021). The MRI is the weighted average of an examinee's responses to a subset of items from the assessment that estimates the likelihood of student postsecondary success (see Allen et al., in press, for more information). Specifically, the authors examined whether the MRI predicted postsecondary enrollment while controlling for other variables related to enrollment.

ACT retesting occurs when students take the ACT® test multiple times with the goal of improving their scores and postsecondary credentials. In this paper, the author examines preliminary data for the 2022 ACT-tested graduating cohort to better understand the ACT score gains that occur with retesting. The author presents the following six things to know about ACT score gains from retesting: (1) Average score gains are modest (about 1 score point); (2) Score gains increase with more time between tests; (3) Higher-achieving students tend to have larger score gains; (4) Differences in score gains across demographic groups are small but consistent with long-standing achievement gaps; (5) ACT scores tend to increase with additional retesting, but there are diminishing returns; and (6) ACT Superscore gains are substantially larger than ACT Composite score gains.

The research summarized in this paper examines the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on student performance on the ACT® test, focusing on students who are Native American. It compares outcomes during the three years preceding the pandemic (2018, 2019, and early 2020) to outcomes in 2021 and 2022 while accounting for changes in the tested population across years. The paper also compares college and career planning behaviors for students who are Native American relative to students from other racial and ethnic groups. The study's major findings include: (1) Native American high school students were more likely to learn online; (2) Significant ACT score declines were observed for students who are Native American; and (3) College and career planning behaviors were mostly similar for students who are Native American and students from other racial/ethnic groups.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused widespread disruptions to the educational system in Nebraska and across the world. At the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, schools in Nebraska were forced to replace on-site instruction with virtual instruction. During the 2020-2021 academic year, many students learned online or under hybrid learning formats. Nebraska administers the ACT® test statewide in the spring of 11th grade. Testing was canceled in spring 2020, a makeup test was offered in fall 2020, and 11th-grade testing resumed in spring 2021. The research summarized in this paper examines impacts of the pandemic on student performance on Nebraska's statewide administrations of the ACT test. The authors compare performance in spring 2017-2019 (before the pandemic) to performance in fall 2020 and spring 2021 (during the pandemic) and account for changes in the tested population across years. The authors address the following research questions: (1) How were Nebraska's ACT test scores impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic?; (2) Did the pandemic's impact on ACT test scores vary for different student groups?; (3) Was the pandemic's impact on ACT test scores worse for communities with greater social vulnerability?; and (4) Was the pandemic's impact on ACT test scores worse for communities with higher COVID-19 case rates?

The COVID-19 pandemic caused widespread disruptions to the educational system in Arkansas and across the United States. At the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, schools in Arkansas were forced to replace on-site instruction with virtual instruction. During the 2020-2021 academic year, there were three student instructional options: on-site/traditional learning, hybrid/blended learning, or virtual/remote learning. Arkansas has administered the ACT® Aspire Assessment System (3rd-10th grades) and the ACT® test (11th grade) statewide since spring 2016. ACT Aspire testing was canceled in spring 2020 because of the pandemic. Using ACT Aspire and ACT results from spring 2019 and spring 2021, the research summarized in this paper examines impacts of the pandemic on student achievement in Arkansas. The paper is organized into two parts. In the first part, Comparing Performance from 2019 and 2021, the author presents a formal analysis of performance in spring 2019 (before the pandemic) and spring 2021 (during the pandemic) and accounts for changes in test participation and the tested population across years. In the second part, Comparing On-Site, Hybrid, and Virtual Modes of Learning, the author examines whether performance in spring 2021 varied by mode of learning and compares results for each mode-of-learning group to their performance in spring 2019.

Transportation equity advocates recommend improving public transit in low-income neighbourhoods to alleviate socio-spatial inequalities and increase quality of life. However, transportation planners often overlook transit investments in neighbourhoods with "transit-captive" populations because they are assumed to result in less mode-shifting, congestion relief, and environmental benefits, compared to investments that aim to attract choice riders in wealthier communities. In North American cities, while many low-income households are already transit users, some also own and use private vehicles. It suggests that transit improvements in low-income communities could indeed result in more transit use and less car use. Accordingly, the main objective of this article is to explore the statistical relationship between transit use and transit accessibility as well as how this varies by household income and vehicle ownership in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA). Using stratified regression models, we find that low-income households with one or more cars per adult have the most elastic relationship between transit accessibility and transit use; they are more likely to be transit riders if transit improves. However, we confirm that in auto-centric areas with poor transit, the transit use of low-income households drops off sharply as car ownership increases. On the other hand, a sensitivity analysis suggests more opportunities for increasing transit ridership among car-deficit households when transit is improved. These findings indicate that improving transit in low-income inner suburbs, where most low-income car-owning households are living, would align social with environmental planning goals., Comment: Published in Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment; Volume 95, June 2021, 102849

Remote electronic voting is convenient and flexible, but presents risks of coercion and vote buying. One promising mitigation strategy enables voters to give a coercer fake voting credentials, which silently cast votes that do not count. However, current proposals make problematic assumptions during credential issuance, such as relying on a trustworthy registrar, on trusted hardware, or on voters interacting with multiple registrars. We present TRIP, the first voter registration scheme that addresses these challenges by leveraging the physical security of in-person interaction. Voters use a kiosk in a privacy booth to print real and fake paper credentials, which appear indistinguishable to others. Voters interact with only one authority, need no trusted hardware during credential issuance, and need not trust the registrar except when actually under coercion. For verifiability, each credential includes an interactive zero-knowledge proof, which is sound in real credentials and unsound in fake credentials. Voters learn the difference by observing the order of printing steps, and need not understand the technical details. We prove formally that TRIP satisfies coercion-resistance and verifiability. In a user study with 150 participants, 83% successfully used TRIP., Comment: 21 pages

This Data Byte presents a summary of findings among students in the 2020 ACT-tested graduating class, over 225,000 of whom took the PreACT® test before taking the ACT® test. Five findings are highlighted: (1) PreACT-tested students scored higher on the ACT test; (2) Average gain from the PreACT to the ACT varies across subjects; (3) Average gain from the PreACT to the ACT increases with course rigor and performance; (4) Average gains from the PreACT to the ACT are lower for underrepresented racial/ethnic groups, but much of the difference is explained by course performance, rigor, and school characteristics; and (5) Average gains from the PreACT to the ACT increased with family income level, but much of the increase is explained by course performance, rigor, and school characteristics.

We examined how ACT® Aspire® (from grades 8 to 10), PreACT® (from grade 10), and ACT® test scores (from grades 10 and 11) relate to students' chances of scoring a 3 or higher as well as 4 or higher on selected Advanced Placement (AP) exams. Data for the study was available for 49,220 students from 318 high schools who had taken at least one AP exam in May of 2015 through May of 2019 and had taken ACT Aspire, PreACT, or the ACT test prior to taking the AP exam. Ninety-seven percent of the students came from a single state. The typical sample size for analysis per AP course was 3,643 students. The sample was weighted to resemble the national AP test-taking population on the AP exam score distribution. Weighted logistic regression models were estimated to relate test scores to AP exam success, while adjusting for time between the testing events and the grade level when the AP exam was taken. Moderate to strong positive correlations for ACT Aspire, PreACT, and ACT test scores were found with AP exam scores; all correlations were 0.50 or higher. Recommended cut scores associated with approximately a 50% chance of success were derived for 23 of the 38 AP courses available--the same courses for which expectancy tables based on PSAT/SAT test scores are reported by College Board as part of AP Potential. Separate cut scores for fall and spring testing with ACT Aspire, PreACT, or the ACT test were developed. Given that ACT Aspire, PreACT, and the ACT are often administered in early high school and AP courses are typically taken in grades 11 or 12, scores from these assessments are well timed to assist schools, educators, and parents in combination with other readiness measures (e.g., high school coursework taken, high school grades, academic discipline) with assessing students' readiness for rigorous coursework and success on AP exams.

This brief summarizes five benefits of schools providing the PreACT® to all their students. The PreACT 8/9 (an earlier version of the PreACT test that is more appropriate for students in grades 8 and 9) and PreACT assessments are designed to provide students with an indication of their educational progress in the context of preparing for the ACT® and exploring postsecondary educational and career options. The PreACT assessments include four multiple-choice tests: English, math, reading, and science. The five benefits of adopting the PreACT discussed in this brief include: (1) PreACT scores are accurate predictors of ACT test scores; (2) PreACT ensures equitable access to practice for the ACT test; (3) Adopting the PreACT can improve readiness for college and careers; (4) PreACT scores identify students who are ready to succeed in advanced high school courses--including AP; and (5) PreACT scores provide a baseline for measuring growth and improvement.

This brief presents a method for predicting the impact of school closures on average ACT® test scores. The purpose is to illustrate a methodology and major conditions that should be considered in predicting aggregate ACT scores when school closes prematurely and learning and testing are disrupted. Across three scenarios examined herein, the impact on academic achievement was predicted to be between -0.71 and -0.31 Composite score points. The predictions are based on a number of assumptions and may not be applicable in every case. ACT can assist state and district partners in applying and interpreting this or similar models to predict the effect of COVID-19 on learning and performance within their local context.

This study investigated the relationships between social and emotional learning factors and course failure for 9,308 7th-9th graders. Student self-report measures of social and emotional learning (SEL) and biographical factors (ACT® Engage® Grades 6-9) were analyzed through multiple regression models with propensity score weighting techniques. The results showed that given a sample of 7th graders, the increase in academic discipline, optimism, and orderly conduct, as well as having parents/guardians with higher educational degrees and expected educational degree from family could reduce the likelihood of course failure. Further, students who reported failing a course in grade 7 demonstrated lower SEL factors in grade 8; similarly, students failing a course in grade 8 demonstrated lower SEL factors in grade 9. Finally, for 7th graders reporting a failed class within the last year, an increase in SEL factors was shown to prevent additional course failures in grades 8 and 9. Interventions helping students who have failed a class to develop their SEL skills and how SE information can be used in early warning systems to help identify at-risk students are discussed.

This study investigated the moderating roles of motivation, social engagement, and self-regulation in predicting academic achievement in grades 11-12 for 3,281 7th-9th graders. Standardized assessments of college readiness (ACT® Explore and the ACT® test) and student self-report measures of social emotional learning factors (ACT® Engage® Grades 6-9) were used in the study. The results showed that females in grades 7-9 scored higher than males for motivation and self-regulation. Motivation and social engagement moderated prior achievement in predicting later achievement in grades 11-12, while self-regulation moderated both gender and prior achievement in predicting later achievement. Specifically, among female students, effects were positive for females with higher prior achievement (PR = 95) and negative for females with lower prior achievement (PR = 5) for self-regulation in predicting achievement in grades 11-12.

The authors examined the relationships of ACT Aspire test scores and high school course grades, AP test scores, and Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) test scores, demonstrating criterion-related as well as convergent and discriminant validity evidence. They found that ACT Aspire test scores are strong predictors of success in standard, career-focused, AP, and dual enrollment courses. Moreover, ACT Aspire scores demonstrate expected convergent and divergent relations across grade levels and with other standardized measures of college and career readiness. The data was provided by the Arkansas Department of Education.

ACT® Academy™ was launched in March 2018 as a free online resource to help students improve their academic skills and prepare for the ACT® test. This study provides an early look at ACT Academy usage and its effects on ACT test scores. The authors found that moderate usage (e.g., 6 hours) of ACT Academy's quizzes and practice tests leads to an improvement in ACT test scores of 1-2 points. However, most students have not spent enough time on the platform to reap the benefits. They also found that the number of ACT Academy users has increased steadily over time, and that female, Asian, and higher-achieving students are somewhat more likely to use ACT Academy. The results suggest that ACT Academy can be an effective and efficient tool to improve academic skills important for college and careers. ACT Academy can have a greater impact on college readiness if more students are aware of it and invest the time needed to benefit from it.

This study examines the effects of adoption of ACT® Aspire® Periodic Assessments on student academic growth, as measured by the ACT Aspire Summative Assessments. A difference-in-difference analysis shows that adoption of the ACT Aspire Interim Assessments leads to improvements in academic growth. Averaging results across all subject areas and grade levels, adoption typically led to an increase in student growth of 1.3 student growth percentile units, which is comparable to moving from the 50th percentile of school growth to the 56th percentile of school growth. The effect of adoption was strongest for English (+2.9 growth percentile units), followed by science (+1.4 growth percentile units) and math (+1.1 growth percentile units). For reading, effects of adoption were inconsistent across grade levels.

States and districts have expressed interest in administering the ACT® to 10th-grade students. Given that the ACT was designed to be administered in the spring of 11th grade or fall of 12th grade, the appropriateness of this use should be evaluated. As such, the focus of this paper is to summarize empirical evidence evaluating the use of the ACT as a measure of college readiness for 10th graders. In alignment with a Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing, empirical evidence related to five sources of validity evidence (response processes, internal structure, content, relation to other variables, and consequences) are summarized. As compared to 11th-grade test administrations, the results indicate that when the ACT is administered to all 10th graders: (1) Students are similarly motivated (response process); (2) Scores are only slightly less reliable (internal structure); and (3) ACT scores and test completion rates are predictably lower for 10th graders relative to 11th graders. Additionally, the results indicate that: (1) The content of the test is aligned to college readiness standards based on what students learn in high school and need to know to succeed in college (content); (2) How students perform on the ACT in 10th grade is comparable to other 10th-grade measures (i.e., PreACT®) of college readiness; and (3) ACT scores from 10th grade are predictive of high school grades and 11th grade ACT scores (relation to other variables). Unlike other 10th grade tests, the ACT provides a college-reportable score and greater test security (relative to the PreACT test). Collectively, the evidence supports the use of the ACT as a measure of college readiness or academic preparation level for 10th-grade students.

Many schools and districts administer ACT® Aspire® to measure progress towards college and career readiness. A recent study suggests that ACT Aspire scores can also be used to help identify students who are academically prepared and may benefit from some of the more rigorous courses offered in high schools across the nation, including Advanced Placement (AP) courses. The purpose of this brief is to highlight the ACT Aspire AP-ready scores found in the study. ACT Aspire tests administered in grades 8-10 can be used to measure readiness for AP courses taken the subsequent academic year (grades 9-11).

Many schools, districts, and states administer the PreACT® and/or the ACT® test to measure readiness for college and careers. A recent study suggests that these test scores can also be used to help identify students who are academically prepared and may benefit from some of the more rigorous courses offered in high schools across the nation, including Advanced Placement (AP) courses. The purpose of this brief is to highlight the PreACT and ACT AP-ready scores found in the study. The most common use cases would be using: (1) PreACT 8/9 tests administered in grades 8 or 9 to measure readiness for AP courses taken in grades 9 or 10; (2) PreACT tests taken in grade 10 to measure readiness for AP courses taken in grade 11; and (3) ACT tests taken in grades 10 or 11 to measure readiness for AP courses taken in grades 11 or 12. The study found that PreACT and ACT test scores are positively related to AP exam scores and are good predictors of success.

Based on the first cohort of students who took the PreACT® in 10th grade and the ACT® test in 11th grade, this study examines the effects of PreACT adoption on ACT test scores, participation in challenging high school courses, interest-major fit, and college score sending behavior. Adoption of the PreACT led to an increase in ACT Composite score of 0.23 score points, which is comparable to one month of instruction. Adoption of the PreACT also led to small increases in interest-major fit and out-of-state score sending.

Many academically-advanced youth take the ACT® test in 7th grade for academic talent searches and again in 11th or 12th grade for college admissions. We leveraged this sample of 460,033 students, taking an exploratory analytic approach to examine trends in academic growth from 1996 to 2016. We examined potential predictors of academic growth, including sociodemographics, interests, high school characteristics, high school coursework and GPA, and extracurriculars. We find these variables account for 29% of the explainable variance in academic growth. Overall, growth improved from 2005 to 2016, but growth for low-income and Hispanic students was stagnant. Students attending Catholic and private schools had the highest growth, whereas homeschooled students and students attending high-poverty public schools showed lowest growth. Elective high school courses in STEM subjects were associated with higher growth, and advanced AP, accelerated, or honors courses were associated with significantly higher growth. In addition, students with Investigative and Conventional interests had higher growth. Some extracurriculars had significant relationships with academic growth, though the effects were small. Factors that had a positive impact on the academic growth trend across time included fewer students being schooled in rural areas, students earning higher grades, more students taking STEM and advanced courses, and an increase in Investigative interests. We discuss leverage points for educational intervention to improve academic growth among academically-advanced students. Better understanding how to improve academic growth in this population can lead to significant improvements in their personal fulfillment and academic achievement as well as societal innovation and GDP.

Students must choose when to take the ACT for the first time and if and when to retest. States and districts that administer the ACT test to all students must also choose when to administer the test. A key consideration in making these decisions is the impact on scores. Because the ACT is a curriculum-based test of academic achievement, students generally score higher later in their high school career. This brief provides answers to four questions related to the question of when to take the ACT: (1) What is equating and how does it affect interpretation of ACT test scores; (2) Do students who test later in their high school career perform better than students who test earlier in their career; (3) In grade 11, does it matter when during the school year students take the ACT; and (4) Do students who retest on the ACT increase their scores?

We derived an index of high school academic rigor by optimizing the prediction of first-year college GPA based on high school courses taken, grades, and indicators of advanced coursework. Using a large data set (n~108,000) and nominal parameterization of high school course outcomes, the high school academic rigor (HSAR) index capitalizes on differential contributions across courses and nonlinear relationships between course grades and first-year college GPA (FYGPA). Test scores from 8th grade were incorporated in the model to isolate the effect of HSAR. High school courses with the largest contributions to FYGPA were English 11, English 10, Chemistry, and Algebra 2. Participation in AP, accelerated, or honors courses increased HSAR. The correlation of the HSAR index and FYGPA was 0.50 and 0.49 in two cross-validation samples. While the HSAR index was the strongest predictor of FYGPA, it only led to a modest improvement in overall prediction when combined with high school GPA (HSGPA) and ACT Composite score. The predictive strength of the HSAR index was consistent across different types of high schools and colleges, and subgroup differences in the HSAR index were smaller than subgroup differences in ACT Composite score. Implications for high school counselors, researchers, and postsecondary student service personnel are discussed.

The ACT College Readiness Benchmarks are the ACT scores associated with a 50% chance of earning a B or higher grade in selected first-year credit-bearing courses at a typical postsecondary institution. The Benchmarks were established by linking ACT test scores with grades in first-year college courses from the same subject area. Benchmarks were first established for ACT English, Mathematics, Reading, and Science scores (Allen & Sconing, 2005; Allen, 2013) and have also been established for ACT STEM (Mattern, Radunzel, & Westrick, 2015; Radunzel, Mattern, Crouse, & Westrick, 2016) and ACT ELA scores (Radunzel, Westrick, Bassiri, & Li, 2017). Table 1 provides the ACT College Readiness Benchmarks and the respective college courses used to establish the Benchmarks. Students scoring at each Benchmark have a 50% chance of earning a B or higher grade in the respective course or courses at a typical postsecondary institution, and approximately a 75% chance of earning a C or higher grade. The purpose of this brief is to present the full range of course success probabilities, by ACT test score, for each of the college courses or course combinations listed in Table 1.