Implications for Use of the ACT within the Colorado Student Assessment Program.

This study was commissioned to investigate issues related to the inclusion of the American College Testing Program (ACT) assessment within the Colorado State Assessment Program (CSAP). Analyses were carried out using assessment materials, assessment results, and various data from the ACT and the Colorado State Department of Education. One focus of the investigation was the match between the Colorado Model Content Standards (CMCS) and the ACT Assessment. Data indicate that the ACT does not match well with the CMCS, and the match is especially poor in science. This finding casts doubts on the advisability of requiring all Colorado 11th graders to take the ACT. The poor match could potentially inject incoherence into the CMCS-based accountability program as a whole, and it raises questions about how ACT results might be combined with CSAP performance in the calculation of Student Accountability Reports for high schools. (SLD)