Every three to five years, the ACT National Curriculum Survey[R] asks educators about what they teach (or don't teach) in their courses and how important they feel various topics in their discipline are for students to know to be successful in these courses and in future coursework. The survey also asks educators for their opinions on educational…

As the nation strives to have all students graduate from high school ready for college and other postsecondary learning opportunities, Americans have to confront the reality that they are far from achieving this goal. The problem is most severe with economically disadvantaged students. For many students, especially those from disadvantaged…

In this report, ACT presents a definition of "work readiness" along with empirically driven ACT Work Readiness Standards and Benchmarks. The introduction of standards and benchmarks for workplace success provides a more complete picture of the factors that are important in establishing readiness for success throughout a lifetime. While…

This report focused on the extent to which students who are academically far off track in preparing for college can catch up in four years. We studied multiple cohorts of students in eighth grade whose EXPLORE[R] scores were more than one standard deviation below the EXPLORE benchmark scores associated with being on track. We found that 10 percent…

We studied relationships among background characteristics, behavioral infractions, punishments, attendance, and educational achievement, using longitudinal data of students in grades 1-6 and 8-12. We estimated how much hypothesized early improvements in educational achievement or sustained improvements in behavior and attendance might ultimately…

According to MetLife's March 2011 Survey of the American Teacher: Preparing Students for College and Careers, approximately 93% of secondary school parents, 85% of secondary teachers, and 80% of business executives believe college and career readiness should be a priority in the nation's classrooms. This college and career readiness priority is…

Accountability in the nation's public schools has become a matter of considerable urgency since the 2001 amendment of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965. Under this most recent version of the ESEA, as of the 2007-08 academic year states and districts must assess the mathematics and reading proficiency of students…

It is essential for all students to be ready for college and career when they graduate from high school. Postsecondary educators expect high school graduates to be prepared academically for success in postsecondary education, which in turn influences success in the work world. Employers continue to call for workers to have the tools needed to…

As part of its College Readiness System, ACT offers the PLAN[R] program as a way for tenth-grade students to review their progress toward college readiness while there is still time to make necessary interventions. PLAN contains four tests--English, Mathematics, Reading, and Science. These tests are designed to measure students' curriculum-related…

ACT is often asked whether student scores on the ACT[R] test can be used to make "norm-referenced" or "standards-referenced" comparisons. Norm-referenced interpretations compare students to one another, while standards-referenced interpretations measure student performance against predefined content standards. This brief shows that, while the ACT…

Postsecondary and work success is central to the economic and social wellbeing of a country. Fundamentally, college success is measured by persistence to degree attainment. Analogously, work success refers to effective performance of a job's required tasks. To succeed in college, one must be ready for college. A student who is ready for college is…

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? The end-of-course examinations developed by ACT are derived from assumptions that offer unique and challenging answers to these questions. This brief explains the process used to develop…

ACT conducts the only nationwide curriculum survey that empirically identifies current instructional practices and postsecondary expectations in order to develop tests that measure critical skills and knowledge. Every three years, it surveys thousands of middle school/junior high school, secondary, and postsecondary teachers in English/writing,…

The time has come to improve the quality of core courses so that all students have equal opportunities to become prepared for postsecondary education and for work. The purposes of this report are to examine the gap between secondary and postsecondary education in the U.S. and to focus on successful strategies for eliminating this gap so that all…

This study profiles two high schools with high enrollments of low-income and racial/ethnic minority students: Thornton Fractional North High School (TF North) and Dumas High School (DHS). Both schools have substantial enrollments of low-income and racial/ethnic minority students and, despite the odds, are successfully preparing students for their…