College and Workforce Training Readiness
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2008 · 2007 · 2006 · 2005 · 2004 · 2003 · 2002 · 2001 · 2000
2008
The Economic Benefits of Academic and Career Preparation (PDF; 58KB, 3 pages)
Students should start career planning as early as middle school by learning about their interests and their academic strengths and weaknesses as they begin to consider postsecondary and career options. The results of this study provide a financial rationale by finding that those students who engage in such long-term planning are more likely to earn higher long-term salaries after college graduation.
ACT Issue Brief, 2008
2007
Defining Rigorous Content for ACT's
QualityCore™ End-of-Course Examinations (PDF; 72KB, 5 pages)
End-of-course examinations are only as good as the assumptions used in designing them. What is a course's "essential" content? And what does it mean to
master it?
ACT Issue Brief, 2007
Effective Use of EPAS® Helps Those
Students Who Need Help the Most (PDF; 56KB, 4 pages)
Students at lower achievement levels gain substantially when their schools
use ACT's EPAS (Educational Planning and Assessment System) effectively.
ACT Issue Brief, 2007
State of College Readiness for Latino Students (PDF; 60 pages, 424KB)
This report examines college readiness among Latino students and finds more Latino high school graduates are college ready, attending college, and re-enrolling for a second year.
ACT Policy Report, 2007
Using EPAS to Evaluate School-Based Intervention Programs: GEAR UP (PDF; 65KB, 8 pages)
In this brief, we examine how ACT's EPAS can be used to evaluate school-based intervention programs.
ACT Issue Brief, 2007
Rigor at Risk
According to the Rigor at Risk report from ACT, even students who take the recommended college preparatory curriculum in high school are often ill-prepared to handle college material.
ACT Policy Report, 2007
ACT National Curriculum Survey®2005–2006
This study points to a gap between what high schools are teaching students in their core college preparatory courses and what colleges want incoming students to know.
ACT Policy Report, 2007
Setting Students' Sights on College: Chicago Public Schools (PDF; 158KB, 3 pages)
This case study explores the results the Chicago Public Schools saw when it instituted citywide administrations of EXPLORE® and PLAN® to help students begin planning for higher education and prepare for the statewide administration of the PSAE (Prairie State Achievement Examinations, which include the ACT).
ACT Case Study, 2007
2006
Breaking Barriers: A Case Study of Two High-Performing Schools
(PDF; 31 pages, 199KB)
We identify the factors that contribute to the success of two high schools with substantial enrollments of low-income and minority students. The two schools highlighted are successfully preparing students for their post–high school goals, despite the odds.
College and Workforce Training Readiness Case Study, 2006
Benefits of a High School
Core Curriculum (PDF; 14 pages, 199KB)
In this research brief, we describe the benefits of taking the ACT-recommended core curriculum, and of taking specific high school courses. The brief is divided into two parts: benefits for academic achievement and college and workforce training
readiness, and benefits for college success.
ACT Issue Brief, 2006
The Benefits of Statewide Use of the ACT® Test (PDF; 5 pages, 81KB)
As part of their move toward statewide assessment at the high school level, a number of states have adopted the ACT test. The ACT, for students in grades 11 and 12, measures students' academic readiness to make successful transitions to college and work after high school.
ACT Issue Brief, 2006
EPAS: A System that Works (PDF; 16 pages, 42KB)
ACT's EPAS is designed to guide and support schools, districts, and states in their efforts to improve students' readiness for life after high school.
ACT Issue Brief, 2006
Ready for College and Ready for Work: Same or Different?
ACT research suggests that the math and reading skills needed to be ready for success in workforce training programs are comparable to those needed for success in the first year of college.
ACT Policy Report, 2006
Ready to Succeed: All Students Prepared for College and Work (PDF; 20 pages, 399KB)
Every student should leave high school with a ticket to the future. We must encourage students to take rigorous high school courses, monitor their academic progress, make timely interventions, and communicate early and often how well they are progressing toward their goals.
ACT Issue Brief, 2006
Reading Between the Lines
Too many American high school students are graduating without the reading skills they'll need to succeed in college and in workforce training programs.
ACT Policy Report, 2006
Statewide Administration of the ACT:
A Key Component in Improving Student Preparation for College and Work (PDF; 84KB, 12 pages)
In Colorado and Illinois, statewide ACT administration has contributed to improvements in the following six areas: student preparation for college, student readiness for college, identification of college-ready students, college enrollment
and retention levels, workforce planning and career counseling, and economic benefits to students and states.
ACT Case Study, 2006
2005
Are High School Grades Inflated? (PDF; 126KB, 4 pages)
This college readiness brief addresses the question, "How useful to colleges are high school grades alone in making admissions and placement decisions about students?"
ACT Issue Brief, 2005
ACT College Readiness Benchmarks, Retention, and First-Year College GPA: What's the Connection? (PDF; 101KB, 2 pages)
This college readiness brief explores the connections between attainment of ACT's College Readiness Benchmarks and college retention and first-year college GPA.
ACT Issue Brief, 2005
Career Planning: Students Need Help Starting Early and Staying Focused (PDF; 121KB, 3 pages)
ACT followed students' academic achievement and career development from 8th grade to high school graduation to determine: when do students begin thinking about their career interests, whether their academic achievement and career interests are related, and if students' career interests are consistent with their college major and career choices.
ACT Issue Brief, 2005
Courses Count: Preparing Students for Postsecondary Success (PDF; 3124KB, 33 pages)
This policy report explores the question, "Why aren't our students ready to succeed in postsecondary programs without remedial help when they leave high school?"
ACT Policy Report, 2005
College Readiness Begins in Middle School (PDF; 487KB, 33 pages)
Schools can play a key role in guiding early preparation for postsecondary education through fostering academic preparation and achievement, supporting parent involvement, providing college and career planning information, and helping students through the many steps in postsecondary planning.
ACT Policy Report, 2005
Do Current State Standards and
Assessments Reflect College Readiness?: A Case Study (PDF; 190KB, 6 pages)
The results of this study show that in at least one case there is evidence that state standards and state assessments alone do not accurately reflect the college readiness levels of the students in the state. Using EXPLORE and PLAN in conjunction with a state assessment increases the likelihood that the state's students will be ready for college and work by the time they finish high school.
ACT Issue Brief, 2005
Early College Planning Pays Big Dividends: Louisiana (PDF; 132KB, 3 pages)
In 2001, the Louisiana Board of Regents began offering ACT's EXPLORE and PLAN as part of its statewide effort to raise academic standards for college admission. At first, the Board of Regents administered the tests free of charge to every school that volunteered to participate in the program. The program has since expanded to include every public high school and middle school in the state.
ACT Case Study, 2005
Gender Fairness Using the ACT (PDF; 193KB, 4 pages)
There is clear evidence that gender differences on the ACT are a function of self-selection and that these differences disappear when all students are tested. Most likely, the differences seen between males and females on the ACT are a function of self-selection—that is, who decides to take the test—rather than inherent bias in what the test is measuring.
ACT Issue Brief, 2005
Incorporating ACT Scores into Your Statewide Assessment (PDF; 106KB, 3 pages)
With ACT's assistance, your state can determine a score scale for a state standards and college readiness assessment containing multiple measures that usefully and efficiently combines information about student achievement across tests. ACT's straightforward scale-score method ensures that a total score made up of the individual scores from each assessment will yield a meaningful "snapshot" of student performance.
ACT Issue Brief, 2005
On Course for Success
High schools that provide all students with high-level courses, qualified teachers, flexible teaching styles, and extra tutorial support are more successful in preparing their students for college and work.
ACT Policy Report, 2005
The Sensitivity of the ACT to Instruction (PDF; 121KB, 3 pages)
Taking specific course sequences in high school has a direct effect on students' ACT scores, and thus on their preparedness for college-level coursework.
ACT Issue Brief, 2005
Using PLAN to Identify Student
Readiness for Advanced Courses in High School (PDF; 87KB, 2 pages)
Administering PLAN to 10th-grade students not only provides them with the opportunity to assess their progress toward their education and career goals, but
also allows schools and school districts to determine which of their students stand
to benefit the most from taking IB, AP, dual enrollment, and other rigorous coursework.
ACT Issue Brief, 2005
What Are ACT's College Readiness Benchmarks? (PDF; 103KB, 3 pages)
ACT's College Readiness Benchmarks are the minimum ACT test scores required for students to have a high probability of success in credit-bearing college courses—English Composition, social sciences courses, Algebra, or Biology.
ACT Issue Brief, 2005
What Kind of Test Preparation Is Best? (PDF; 127KB, 3 pages)
As long as students are ready and motivated to learn and the courses cover the
proper material, simply taking the right core courses in high school can increase ACT Composite scores more than does any one of the most beneficial short-term
test preparation activities.
ACT Issue Brief, 2005
2004
Academic and Noncognitive Variables Related to PLAN Scores (PDF; 573KB, 44 pages)
Examines the extent to which students' PLAN scores at grade 10 could be explained by high school coursework, educational needs, higher education goals, educational background, gender, and race/ethnicity, given their EXPLORE scores at grade 8.
ACT Research Report, 2004
Crisis at the Core: Preparing All Students for College and Work
This report highlights research showing that many high school graduates do not have all of the skills they need to succeed in college-level coursework or workforce training.
ACT Policy Report, 2004
Schools Involving Parents in Early Postsecondary Planning (PDF; 576KB, 36 pages)
Studies show that parents, particularly those who did not attend college, often do not have the necessary tools, information, and resources to assist their children with college planning.
ACT Policy Report, 2004
Improving Students' Readiness for College: Homewood-Flossmoor High School, Illinois District 233 (PDF; 152KB, 4 pages)
How Homewood-Flossmoor High School used EPAS to improve students' readiness for college.
ACT Case Study, 2004
Using EPAS in School Improvement: Illinois Township High School District 214 (PDF; 133KB, 3 pages)
Illinois Township High School District 214 uses EPAS for career and educational planning, preparing students for college, incorporating state standards, and making informed decisions using quantitative data.
ACT Case Study, 2004
2003
Preparing Oklahoma Students for the Future (PDF; 116KB, 3 pages)
Since Oklahoma implemented higher college admission standards and EPAS, college remediation rates have dropped in all content areas and gaps between and among demographic subgroups have narrowed.
ACT Case Study, 2003
Relationships Between Scores and College Preparatory Course Work in High School (PDF; 250KB, 18 pages)
Investigates relationships among the Composite scores of EXPLORE, PLAN, and the ACT batteries and the relationships the three Composite test scores have with high school grade point average.
ACT Research Report, 2003
2002
Creating Seamless Educational Transitions for Urban African American and Hispanic Students (PDF; 898KB, 55 pages)
This study examines the influences on postsecondary planning that these students have encountered and how such influences have helped them develop and implement their plans for postsecondary education.
ACT Policy Report, 2002
2001
Improving Performance on the ACT Assessment
This brief offers several suggestions—for counselors, students, and parents—about what students can do, academically and otherwise, to improve their performance on the ACT.
ACT Research Brief, 2001
Interpreting ACT Assessment Scores
There are two primary ways to interpret ACT scores: compare an individual's score to all other ACT-tested students, and describe specific academic skills and knowledge that a student has likely acquired given her or his score range.
ACT Research Brief, 2002
Mathematics and Science Achievement and Course-Taking for College-Bound High School Students
Are intended mathematics/science majors better prepared? Are high school students taking the courses they need for success in college?
ACT Research Brief, 2002
2000
Monitoring Changes in High School Average ACT Composite Scores Over Time
The chart presented with this information brief has been designed so that changes in average ACT Composite scores can be evaluated across more than two years, thus increasing the ability to monitor trends in school performance.
ACT Research Brief, 2000
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