Equity at ACT

ACT’s commitment to equity, which comes to life every day through our mission and the work of ACT’s Center for Equity in Learning, is finding new focus through an intentional commitment to Equity by Design. This emphasis will connect ACT’s more than 60 years of success as a trusted assessment organization with an accelerated commitment to advance and amplify equity, diversity, inclusion, and justice in our efforts. This strategic focus is essential for ACT’s next 60 years of success – and the success of the students we serve.

Given the significant demographic shifts in the U.S., as well as recent local and global disruptions in learning, ACT is working alongside our stakeholders to ensure that gaps in access and opportunity continue to be identified and addressed. The effects of the digital divide, emergence of artificial intelligence and virtual reality, as well as ongoing systemic barriers to success for so many, require that education and work beyond high school are meaningfully transformed in this watershed moment. 

The American College Application Campaign (ACAC), a national initiative of ACT’s Center for Equity in Learning, is designed to increase the number of first-generation college students and students from low-income families who pursue a postsecondary degree. The purpose is to assist high school seniors as they navigate the college application and admissions process and ensure each participating student submits at least one admissions application.

Each year, ACAC works with designated coordinators in every state and the District of Columbia to host college application events and reach students in their schools and communities, encouraging and helping them to apply to college. 

Nationally, 4.2 million students have been served by ACAC and 7.3 million applications have been submitted since the Campaign began in 2005.