ACT & College and Career Readiness THE STATE OF ARKANSAS Scott Montgomery, Vice President Policy, Advocacy, and Government Relations

What Drives Us Our Mission Relentless focus on the individual: for 56 years, ACT’s mission has been to help people achieve education and workplace success. Our Approach We 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 Research Fifty-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.

2014ACT Aspire: The first next generation assessment administration, grade 3 to college-entry assessment system 2012ACT and Pearson launch ACT Aspire 2011Two federally funded state consortia begin assessment development work 2010Common Core State Standards complete 2010ACT begins development of next-generation college and career readiness assessment system 2009ACT convenes chief state school officers to begin thinking about the “next generation of college and career assessments” 2008Joint CCSSO/NGA call for common state standards 2007CCSSO engages chiefs in discussion on ‘national standards’ – later renamed Common Core 2004NGA proposes college and career readiness initiative 2003ACT produces empirically-based, predictive College Readiness Benchmarks 1997ACT first to produce comprehensive body of empirically-based College & Career Readiness Standards 1987ACT 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 , 26,821 (93%) of Arkansas high school graduates took the ACT In , there were 32,814 students who took the ACT Explore in the 8 th 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 10 th 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 9 th /10 th 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 Commitment Summative assessments (in Minutes) GradeEnglishMathReadingScienceWriting Early HS Interim assessments are approximately 45 minutes Classroom assessments are approximately 15 minutes

Sample Student Report

Sample Teacher Report

The ACT The 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 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 Montgomery Vice President Policy, Advocacy, and Government Relations |