For college admissions personnel
- Monitor and consider the implications of both the historic trends and future state policy changes that impact the ACT participation rates in your state and other states in which you recruit ACT-tested students. For example, between the 2013 and 2014 graduating classes, Hawaii’s ACT participation rate increased from 40% to 90% due to a recent policy decision to administer the ACT to all public high school 11th graders in the state. ACT research has consistently found that students from states with lower ACT participation rates tend to have different background characteristics, achievement levels, college preferences, and test-taking behaviors (e.g., opting into EOS, sending test scores) than students from states with higher ACT participation rates.
- Be strategic about the timing with which you select names and the parameters you use to make your selections through EOS. More students are taking the ACT, deciding to test earlier, and opting into EOS, and these trends have implications on the size and characteristics of the EOS pool at different times in the academic year. Take special note that in states not administering the ACT statewide, students who are traditionally underserved by colleges (e.g., first-generation students, lower-income students, and students from racial/ethnic minority groups) are more likely than other students to test later in high school.
- Make it clear to prospective students how scores from multiple test dates are evaluated in admissions decisions at your institution. For example, your institution may use scores from all test dates provided, the test date with the highest scores, scores from the most recent test date, or some other variation. More students are electing to withhold their ACT scores during registration and send them at a later date. When students withhold their scores, you lose an opportunity to more actively recruit the student (especially if score sending is the first contact that the student has with your college). When students rely on additional score reports, you also lose information about your college’s rank in each student’s choice set, and past ACT research has shown that a college’s ranking in the choice set has historically been one of the best predictors of the student’s enrollment at that college.
For high school counselors
- Encourage students to take full advantage of the opportunity to send their test scores to up to four colleges or scholarship agencies as part of the ACT registration process. Sending ACT scores during registration is viewed by colleges as an expression of student interest in the school; it provides colleges with a chance to reach out sooner to interested students, giving students more timely information and time to weigh their postsecondary options.
- Learn and help students to understand the different approaches that colleges take in evaluating scores from multiple test dates in admissions decisions. Although there may be a few specific colleges and students for which the delay in sending test scores is a reasonable strategy, withholding test scores as a universal strategy would be disadvantageous for many students and colleges.
- Recommend that students opt into the ACT Educational Opportunity Service. Past ACT research has shown that the median distance between a student’s home and his or her college is about 50 miles. Students may not be aware of the numerous postsecondary opportunities available to them, especially those that are located farther from home. The additional information they receive from colleges may lead to a better-informed decision or a better-fitting postsecondary environment.
- Encourage students to take the ACT earlier in high school as part of their educational and career planning and preparation. In addition to providing colleges with information that can assist with recruiting, advising, and course placement, results from the ACT can help students identify academic strengths and weaknesses, explore educational and career interests, and prepare to meet their educational and career goals. Although it’s important for all students, early testing may be of particular benefit to students who are traditionally underserved by colleges (e.g., first-generation students, lower-income students, and students from racial/ethnic minority groups), as these students tend to test later and may need additional guidance in understanding the college preparation and choice process.