ACT College-Readiness Measures: Explore, Plan and the ACT

1
ACT College-Readiness Measures Explore, Plan and
the ACT

• Hal L. Sanderson, Ph.D.Director of Institutional
  Research AssessmentEvidence-Based Learning
  OfficeCanyons School District

2
Our targets

• Understand how the ACT College-Readiness Measures
  relate to Canyons Districts Student Achievement
  Plan.
• Develop a stronger understanding of the
  student-knowledge assessments commonly known as
  Explore and Plan.
• Learn how those assessments support more rigorous
  course-taking, which are required to earn CSDs
  Honors and Advanced diplomas.

3
All students will graduate from Canyons School
District College- and Career-Ready

• Student Achievement Plan
• for Canyons School District

4
How do ACT College-Readiness Measures relate to
the Student Achievement Plan?

• The ACT College-Readiness Measures are an
  important component of Canyons School Districts
  Student Achievement Plan.
• Goal No. 1 of Student Achievement Plan Promote
  school and community engagement that supports
  students to become college- and career-ready.
• Goal No 1 Evidence
• Establish and monitor student-achievement
  benchmarks based on state and national
  performance standards aligned to college, career,
  and transitional opportunities.

5
ACT College-Readiness Measures provide key
evidence and establish research-based benchmarks

• 1.3.1 Establish benchmarks for key indicators of
  student college- and career-readiness
• 1.3.2. Report at regular intervals district and
  school progress toward the college- and
  career-ready vision
• The ACT College-Readiness Measures (Explore,
  Plan, ACT) are critical to tracking student
  progress over time

6
What are the Explore and Plan assessments?
7
The Explore and Plan assessments

• Explore and Plan are standardized tests developed
  by American College Testing (ACT), one of the
  oldest and most trusted research and assessment
  companies in the United States
• Explore and Plan measure student knowledge in
  English, reading, math and science. Explore can
  be administered to eighth- or ninth-graders and
  Plan is given to high school sophomores
• ACT also measures the same content areas

8
The Explore, Plan ACT Assessments

• Explore provides baseline information on a
  students academic preparation and is designed to
  be used for high school coursework planning.
  Explore is an early indicator of
  college-readiness and a useful career exploration
  and planning program.
• Plan provides students a midpoint review of a
  students progress toward college and career
  goals while there is still time to make necessary
  interventions and adjustments. It is also a
  useful career exploration and planning program.
• ACT measures a students academic readiness to
  make a successful transition to college or
  post-high school workforce-training programs.

9
How do Explore and Plan relate to the ACT and
college-readiness?
10
Common Curriculum/Standards

• All three tests are measures of the
  college-readiness standards.
• The college-readiness standards serve as a direct
  link between what students have learned and what
  they are ready to learn next. The suggested
  learning experiences, in turn, provide links
  between the standards in one score range and
  those in the next higher score range.
• The college-readiness standards are also linked
  to college instruction. More than 40 years of
  research has shown that performance on the ACT is
  directly related to the grade point average in
  the first year of college.

11
Common Scale

• All three measures are built on a common score
  scale to measure academic progress from grades
  eight through 12.
• All three measures and the associated
  college-readiness benchmarks provide predictive
  information on success in credit-bearing college
  courses English composition, social studies,
  college algebra, and biology.
• Research tells us that a student who reaches an
  ACT benchmark score has a 75 likelihood of
  earning a C or higher and a 50 likelihood of
  earning a B or higher in that college course.

12
College-Readiness Benchmark
1-36
1-32
1-25
13
Math College-Readiness Scale
14
Which grades will take Explore, Plan and ACT?
And when will the testing occur?

• ACT College Readiness Measures
• Explore Fall, 8th Grade
• Plan Fall, 10th Grade
• ACT Spring, 11th Grade

15
Why give tests in the fall?

• We want test results returned in time to be used
  in January for high school registration.
• The results will be an important feature of
  SEP/SEOP meetings for secondary students.
• Mid-year course adjustments also may be required
  for some students.

16
What will Canyons parents, counselors and
administrators learn from the assessments?

• Middle and high schools can use the Explore and
  Plan benchmarks as a means of evaluating early
  progress toward college-readiness so that timely
  interventions can be made when necessary.
• They can also serve as an educational-counseling
  or career-planning tool.
• Families who might not have considered college
  now may be inclined to plan for it.

17
The additional assessments will help more
students earn the Honors and Advanced diplomas
18
Rigorous course-taking and CSDs Differentiated
Diplomas

• In the winter of a students eighth-grade year,
  families and faculty will have information about
  the level of preparedness for college coursework.
• ACT research has demonstrated that this type of
  clear and concrete feedback leads to more
  rigorous course-taking in high school.
• ACT research also demonstrates that students who
  take the Explore and Plan tests increase their
  odds of meeting the ACT College-Readiness
  Benchmarks by anywhere from 24 to 44 percent!

19
Questions and Comments