ACT Newsroom & Blog

This college application season has been like no other. News coverage of the Ivies’ shockingly low admissions rates spread like wildfire. What followed were shouts of joy from the few who were accepted, drowned out by the sadness and heartache felt by students who were not.

Though the news cycle has been littered with the Ivies’ admit rates for the last few weeks, far too little attention has been paid to the largely unheralded community colleges that provide affordable, high-quality, and life-changing education for so many students nationwide. As an organization, ACT recognizes the important role community colleges play to serve the often under-represented and traditionally underserved students in their communities.

ACT has long advocated for students to explore multiple pathways to success after high school, including community college and workforce training. It’s critical for students to understand their options and use data to find their best fit.

April is Community College Month—the perfect time to amplify the voices of two senior community college leaders in our home state of Iowa: Chancellor of the Iowa Valley Community College (IVCC) Dr. Kristie Fisher, and Kirkwood Community College Vice President of Student Services Jon Buse. Thousands of students are served each day at their respective institutions. It’s important for us to engage in conversations with them—and other institutions like theirs around the country—about the challenges and opportunities they face as they serve students.

Community colleges across the country are facing immense enrollment challenges that are multifaceted and cumulative in nature.

The Challenges

The common challenges presented by COVID-19 can be seen in almost every community college nationwide. But the enrollment challenges that faced Kirkwood were not limited to COVID-19. The devastation of COVID-19 occurred against the backdrop of a rare but immensely devastating natural disaster. The hurricane-force winds of the derecho that struck the local community in August 2020 shut down the college as well as most of the surrounding area for more than a week. The storm wreaked havoc on the state, which sharply affected students already suffering from the challenges presented by the pandemic.

“Kirkwood experienced a decline in overall enrollment in the fall of 2020. The decline was most evident among returning students with the greatest impact on low income and adult students. We were encouraged that the declines experienced in the fall 2020 were mitigated by stronger than average growth in new students entering in the spring of 2021. However, overall the 2020-21 academic year has been a difficult one for community college across the state and the nation.” – Jon Buse

Application totals for Iowa Valley Community College District enrollments are trending more similarly to pre-COVID levels. Though this seems to be consistent with the national story, there are two underlying challenges that some might be overlooking, which Chancellor Fisher and her colleagues know they will have to face head on: retention and readiness.

Returning students and those who have struggled with learning amid the pandemic are of particular concern. Community colleges like IVCC are gearing up to provide additional supports to students who may have experienced difficulties with the virtual/hybrid learning environment. This is especially true for those who lacked the necessary in-person supports they might have had in a pre-COVID environment.

“We're always most concerned about students who come from under-represented backgrounds. They don't have as much social capital and require important wrap-around services to help them through the system. Students pursuing a postsecondary education have many valid fears. They may lack academic preparedness, have less ability to pay for college, and have less well-developed planning and support networks necessary for them to get to college in the fall. These areas of concern are going to be magnified for students who are traditionally under-represented.”- Dr. Kristie Fisher

The Opportunities

The pandemic disrupted any sense of normalcy enjoyed by college-goers enrolled before COVID-19. It is now more important than ever for all of us to deliberately explain and outline the many pathways students should explore and consider after high school graduation. Below, Buse and Dr. Fisher share a few benefits that students will find when they enroll at community colleges:

“I encourage students to explore all of their options. Community colleges also offer a wide array of academic opportunities from career and technical education to four-year college transfer programs. In addition, community colleges offer many opportunities for students to engage in co-curricular and student life activities, and we offer strong academic support services. I encourage students and families to plan a college visit and see what community colleges have to offer. I think they will find we offer outstanding academic quality and a real college experience at an affordable price.” – Jon Buse

“First and foremost, it's about quality. We have to remind students they get a quality education at a community college. The ability to work in small classes where faculty knows your name and you can have that one-on-one connection—community colleges bring all that to the table in a cost-effective way. At Iowa Valley we're so focused on the individual student and giving them whatever they need, no matter what point they're at in their lives. For instance, we have these wonderful residential campuses that can give a traditional student the feel of a dorm, along with meal plans and athletics and of course a high-quality education. At the same time, we have the flexible structure that brings a lot of commuter students to us and a lot of students who are looking for short-term training. We can answer just about any need that a student would bring.” - Dr. Kristie Fisher

“Even though the trials which face community colleges are significant, I share the same hope and excitement that First Lady, Dr. Jill Biden has for this work. From her vantage point as an active community college faculty member Dr. Biden knows how well students in community college classrooms are served. That she is advocating in support of community colleges nationwide is reason for hope. This is critical work that yields outstanding outcomes. It’s true that successful community colleges will strengthen our country.” – Dr. Kristie Fisher

 

Community colleges don’t just improve individuals’ lives – they strengthen our country as a whole.

— Jill Biden (@FLOTUS) April 20, 2021

It is ACT’s hope that students explore community colleges as one of many excellent pathways to education and workplace success.

Do you know how many students from your school use fee waivers to take the ACT test each year? Across the country, more than one in five registrations for the national ACT test (taken by students on a Saturday) are completed using a fee waiver. On average, more than $32 million worth of fee waivers are distributed each year. This effort is a key part of ACT’s nonprofit mission to help everyone find success in education and the workforce. Sadly, many students ultimately do not test after using a fee waiver to register for the ACT, missing out on additional college opportunities including scholarship dollars.

As members of ACT’s Research and Policy departments, we investigated this unhappy phenomenon further because we believe that measurement matters. We wanted to better understand why students register with a fee waiver and then fail to show up for the test. Our goal is to enhance the fee waiver program and ultimately improve outcomes for those students most in need. To do so, we examined national ACT test registrations over a five-year period, from the 2014-15 to 2018-19 school years. During this period, more than 2.3 million eligible students used fee waivers to register for more than 3.1 million ACT tests, for a total of $161.4 million in waived registration fees.

Product Certification Provides Transparency to Edtech Marketplace

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Mosaic™ by ACT® Adaptive Academic Learning has earned the Research-Based Design product certification from Digital Promise. The product certification serves as a rigorous, reliable signal for district and school administrators, educators and families looking for evidence of research-based educational technology (edtech) products that are based in research about learning.

ACT submitted evidence to Digital Promise confirming a link between research on how students learn and the product’s design.

“ACT has built its reputation as an authority in research-backed products and services intended to address the evolving educational marketplace,” said Interim Chief Product Officer Julie Murphy. “This certification for Mosaic by ACT Adaptive Academic Learning—from such a respected organization—is an endorsement of our mission to deliver solutions that are comprehensive, efficacious and support each learner on their personalized learning path. It’s now more important than ever to address learning losses resulting from COVID-19 instructional disruption."

“Educators and researchers continue to uncover important insights about how people learn,” said Christina Luke Luna, senior director of lifelong learning pathways at Digital Promise. “Digital Promise’s Research-Based Design product certification recognizes the edtech products that incorporate research about learning into their design and development. Congratulations to ACT for demonstrating that research informs product design!”

Through Product Certifications, consumers can narrow their options as they select products based on research about learning before trying it out in their classrooms. Digital Promise launched the Research-Based Design product certification in February 2020 and has certified 43 products to date.

The Research-Based Design product certification uses a competency-based learning framework, developed in consultation with Digital Promise’s Learner Variability Project advisory board, expert researchers in the Learning Sciences field, and nearly 50 educators across the United States. Further detail about its development can be found in Digital Promise’s report, “Designing Edtech that Matters for Learning: Research-Based Design Product Certifications.”

All developers, educators, edtech investors, and families are also encouraged to sign the Research-Based Product Promise and demand high-quality, research-driven products that support each unique learner. More information on Digital Promise’s product certifications can be found at productcertifications.digitalpromise.org.

About ACT

ACT is a mission-driven, nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people achieve education and workplace success. Grounded in more than 60 years of research, ACT is a trusted leader in college and career readiness solutions. Each year, ACT serves millions of students, job seekers, schools, government agencies and employers in the US and around the world with learning resources, assessments, research and credentials designed to help them succeed from elementary school through career. To learn more, visit www.act.org.

About Digital Promise

Digital Promise is a nonprofit organization that builds powerful networks and takes on grand challenges by working at the intersection of researchers, entrepreneurs, and educators. Our vision is that all people, at every stage of their lives, have access to learning experiences that help them acquire the knowledge and skills they need to thrive and continuously learn in an ever-changing world. For more information, visit the Digital Promise website and follow @digitalpromise for updates.

In part two of our three-part series on ACT content and fairness reviewers, Heather Prevosti—a high school English teacher for the New York City Department of Education—blogs for us on the benefits of this important role as it shapes the world she creates for her students. Read on and catch up on the first blog here.

As a content reviewer, I read passages, answer the questions, and provide feedback on content and fairness. On my first read, I answer the questions as a student might by identifying the correct answer key. On the second read, I read as an instructor, identifying any small content errors or inconsistencies in the question or answer keys. I became a content reviewer because I thought it would be a great opportunity to learn about and contribute to test development—to understand the nuances of a test that has such a big effect on my students’ lives. As content and fairness reviewers, we speak for our students. To a certain extent, educators know where our students come from and how they perceive the world. As content and fairness reviewers, we have the opportunity to determine what passages/questions/answer keys might be too ambiguous or present a bias against our students.

One unexpected benefit of content and fairness reviewing is that I am learning as much as I contribute. As educators, we consistently walk this tight rope of rigor and fairness. We try to challenge our students with material that is intentionally inclusive (or at least not exclusive). This is nuanced territory because there are few road maps for how to keep the bar high for our students while maintaining equity and access. I have been teaching for seventeen years, and there are still days where I struggle to push students while simultaneously ensuring all students have access to the learning. My role as a content reviewer helps me reflect on this balance in my classroom. As I consider content and fairness in the ACT units, I also begin to brainstorm ways to do this work more effectively in my practice.

One of my greatest goals is to teach my students that fairness and equity matter. My all-time favorite author, Toni Morrison, once said “Your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else.” I work to ensure that all students can free themselves, can achieve excellence in a world where there is not equal opportunity or access. And once they can achieve, I teach them to free others. I introduce my students to diverse authors by attending readings across our city. Pre-COVID-19, I coordinated an exchange program with a school in Spain. I write my own curriculum and revise it as necessary with student input about which texts they feel both reflect their experiences and help them see the world more broadly. When I read texts with students, we examine themes from multiple perspectives, considering author and reader bias. I can honestly say that my work with ACT as a content and fairness reviewer has helped me to sharpen my understanding of the balance between fairness and rigor. This work is truly rewarding.

We’re currently recruiting content and fairness reviewers for the ACT test (specifically for Reading and English). Interested in supporting the development of a fair and equitable test? Apply to be a content and fairness reviewer.

ACT Shares Sustainability Efforts and Environmental Research Collaborations this Earth Day

Iowa City has been home to ACT since its origins in 1959. We remain a dedicated local employer and a community partner, neighbor, and steward of the land we own and maintain. This Earth Day, we’re celebrating our progress toward a sustainable Iowa and an ongoing partnership with the University of Iowa that lends our land as an educational tool for graduate students.

Congratulations to the students who tested this weekend as part of ACT’s April national test date! Here’s what you can plan for next, now that your test date is in the history books.

By the Numbers

According to our registration data, approximately 236,000 students planned to sit for the test this weekend. Of those students, more than 36,000 registered to take the test with a fee waiver. This is our most up-to-date estimate of students tested. We report out official numbers of ACT test-takers annually by graduating class.

To-date, we have tested more than 2 million students since June 2020, as part of national test events and through state and district testing.

Score Release Window

Now that you’ve tested, we know your next logical question: When will my scores be available?

• Multiple choice scores are normally available two weeks after each national test date, but it can sometimes take up to eight weeks.
• Writing scores are normally available about two weeks after your multiple-choice scores.

The reporting timeframe for this test date is April 27 - June 11, meaning scores will begin to post to MyACT accounts on April 27. You can learn more about scores (including how to understand them) on our dedicated scores page.

Looking Ahead

Students still have two opportunities this school year to sit for a national test. Check out the dates and deadlines below to stay on top of your schedule.

New Features and News to Use

ACT recently announced that automatic superscoring is now available to students who wish to send their scores to colleges and institutions. Learn more about the new test option and how it can help you stand out.

Upcoming Webinar: Have you heard? ACT’s CEO Janet Godwin will be kicking off a 75-minute virtual conversation with Univision to discuss how to make college-going a success for students in the Latino community. All are welcome to register for the May 19 event where you will learn how to use current data and practical solutions to drive successful outcomes for Latino students.

ACT is heartened by the just verdict issued in the murder of George Floyd. While nothing can truly heal the pain of the loss for George’s family and community, this verdict is a step toward accountability. Now is the time to reflect on the systemic changes that must be made in order to make progress toward true equity and justice.

If we are to change, first we must learn. We must learn from the hideous stain of systemic racism and the damage it causes to people and communities. We must learn by listening to the Black community. And we must find ways to better serve students, families, and communities that have, for too long, faced barriers simply because of the color of their skin.

ACT believes deeply in the power of education to change lives, to change history. We reaffirm our commitment to equity and justice, standing ready to continue the work alongside leaders in the education and civil rights communities so that all people are afforded the opportunity to achieve their potential.

George Floyd’s life mattered. Black lives matter.

In my previous blog for ACT, I discussed the aim, value and impact of The Hunt Institute’s flagship program, the Hunt-Kean Leadership Fellows program, as well as ElevateNC: Higher Education and the Belk Impact Fellows program on advancing education equity.

Since there is no substitute for hearing directly from women who have participated in the programs, I was fortunate enough to speak with two current participants in Hunt Institute programs: Illinois Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton (Hunt-Kean Leadership Fellow, Cohort 6), and Guilford County Superintendent Sharon Contreras (Elevate NC: Higher Education, Cohort 1).

Lt. Governor Stratton

Recommended Reading:

A few years back, Jonathan Wai and I embarked on a study to examine predictors of academic growth among academically advanced (gifted) youth. Using a large sample of students (more than 480,000!) who took the ACT test in seventh grade (as part of a talent search program) and again in 11th or 12th grade, we were able to measure academic growth during most of their high school years. Using data collected when students register for the ACT test, we examined predictors of that growth. The predictors we examined included sociodemographic variables (e.g., gender, race/ethnicity, parent education level); high school coursework and grades; school characteristics; vocational interest scores (e.g., realistic, investigative, conventional); and extracurricular activities. Data were collected across 21 graduating cohorts of students spanning 1996-2017 and we also tested whether academic growth improved over this period.

ACT and The Hunt Institute are mission-aligned on closing gaps in education equity, opportunity, and achievement. Stay tuned for opportunities to engage with both organizations as we work together to provide equal access to high-quality education and improve education and career outcomes for all students, regardless of race/ethnicity, income and other demographic characteristics.

How is The Hunt Institute working to advance education equity? Are there any specific programs you have to do so?

The Hunt Institute was founded 20 years ago by Governor Jim Hunt to provide policymakers and changemakers all the tools necessary to bring about an equitable education for all learners, so equity is intentionally integrated into all of our programming.

Our flagship program, the Hunt-Kean Leadership Fellows program, named for Governors Jim Hunt and Tom Kean – champions of education and bipartisanship – has cultivated leaders whose agendas have a prominent focus on education. ElevateNC: Higher Education brings together leaders determined to further build a pipeline to postsecondary education. Our Belk Impact Fellows program is designed for college students who are focused on social impact, working at organizations whose main focus is improving educational equity.

The racial unrest that took place in the spring of 2020 caused us to further amplify issues of inequity via a Race & Education webinar series that has zeroed in on issues of systemic racism in the education system. We will continue to provide this space to magnify these issues in hopes of developing solutions.

Our most recent work revolves around an initiative to add one million teachers of color to the workforce over the next decade, and we are hoping to involve U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona in this effort.

What is the aim and value of the Hunt-Kean Leadership Fellows and ElevateNC: Higher Education program to your equity work?

Both of these programs target elected officials who are heading on to higher office. We recognize that while in office policymakers have many priorities and we want education to be at the top of that list. Convenings offer participants the opportunity to learn from experts across the field of education and our goal is for them to take that new knowledge base and apply it to their current and future agendas. We also are eager to partner with participants who have equity priorities they need support in amplifying.

What has been the reach and impact of the programs, and how are they affecting women and women of color?

The Hunt-Kean Leadership Fellows program boasts almost 150 total Fellows from all 50 states as well as the District of Columbia. We have been intentional in including the voices of women of color in all of our cohorts and will continue to do so. The inaugural cohort of Elevate NC is a diverse group of policymakers, practitioners, advocates, and stakeholders from across North Carolina whose work all touch on higher education policy.

Dr. Siddiqi is President & CEO of The Hunt Institute, an education think tank based in Cary, North Carolina. He previously served as Virginia’s Secretary of Education, and is a former teacher, principal, and school board member.

Past Work

Watch The Hunt Institute’s webinar, Supporting Innovation in Education: Helping Students Succeed During a Pandemic, featuring our very own Tina Gridiron (ACT’s Center for Equity in Learning) as a panelist.
Read The Hunt Institute’s blog about the Center’s work with Univision to identify the perceptions of, and barriers to, postsecondary participation among Hispanic students and their parents.

Upcoming Events

• ACT CEO Janet Godwin will moderate a discussion at the Hunt-Kean Leadership Fellows program in New Mexico on August 12.
• The Hunt Institute CEO Javaid Siddiqi will speak to ACT team members about his perspective on systemic issues facing people of color, individuals from low-income households and students with disabilities within the realm of education.

Stay tuned for part two of this blog, featuring women who have participated in The Hunt Institute’s programs.

IOWA CITY, Iowa—Superscoring, a much-anticipated ACT test option to increase students’ opportunities for college admissions and scholarships, is now available from ACT, the nonprofit that develops and administers the ACT test.

ACT announced today that it will provide an automatically calculated ACT Superscore to all students who have taken the ACT test more than once from September 2016 to current day. A student must have scores from at least two test administrations in their MyACT account for ACT to calculate a superscore—the average of the four best subject scores (English, math, reading and science) across all ACT test events.

Extensive research suggests that—among students who take the ACT more than once—superscoring is the best scoring method for predicting how students will perform in their college courses. This is true across income level, race/ethnicity, gender, and other subgroups, meaning students from traditionally underserved populations may benefit most from superscoring. Students who qualify for the ACT Fee Waiver Program are encouraged to retest and send their superscores using the benefits of the program. This includes four ACT test waivers to take the ACT for free and unlimited score reports to send to colleges and institutions.

“We’re so pleased to provide a ray of sunshine to students with this launch, especially after a difficult year that took so much from students, educators, and families,” said ACT CEO Janet Godwin. “We also encourage our partners in higher education to consider adding superscoring to their score-use policies for the benefit it provides to students and given the strong validity evidence linking superscores to first-year grades.”

ACT superscoring and other enhancements to the ACT test were postponed due to COVID-19. ACT prioritized building testing capacity for students in need of full ACT scores for admission and scholarship applications. This allowed test centers to focus on providing a safe and socially distant paper administration of the ACT, resulting in more than one million students earning test scores since June 2020, despite the pandemic.

For more information about superscoring, visit www.act.org/superscoring and watch the following ACT Superscore Q&A video featuring ACT researcher, Krista Mattern.

About ACT

ACT is a mission-driven, nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people achieve education and workplace success. Grounded in more than 60 years of research, ACT is a trusted leader in college and career readiness solutions. Each year, ACT serves millions of students, job seekers, schools, government agencies and employers in the US and around the world with learning resources, assessments, research and credentials designed to help them succeed from elementary school through career. 

Dig Deeper

• The Impact of Superscoring on the Distribution of ACT Scores
• Does Superscoring Increase Subgroup Differences?
• Predicting Students' Chances of Completing a Degree: How Does Superscoring Compare to Other Scoring Methods When Applicants Retest?
• How Should Colleges Treat Multiple Admissions Test Scores?