Starting in April 2025, ACT will introduce enhanced forms of the ACT® test for national online testing, with a full rollout to all paper and online test takers in national, state and district, and international test administrations by Spring 2026. ACT introduced major updates by changing the test lengths and testing times, providing more time per…

This report describes the process of developing and validating the enhanced ACT. The report describes the changes made to the test content and the processes by which these design decisions were implemented. The authors describe how they shared the overall scope of the enhancements, including the initial blueprints, with external expert panels,…

Student data is an invaluable asset for driving educational success, yet it comes with significant responsibility. As states explore ways to enhance data privacy protections, they must strike a balance between safeguarding sensitive information and leveraging data for student success. This brief examines the best practices in student data privacy…

ACT announced a series of enhancements designed to modernize the ACT test and offer students more choice and flexibility in demonstrating their readiness for life after high school. The enhancements provide students more flexibility by allowing them to choose whether to take the science assessment, thereby reducing the test length by up to…

This brief explores how the growth of school-day testing has changed the overall population of annual ACT testers to be more representative of all students; it also highlights key insights from school-day testing programs nationwide.

Speeded tests set time limits so that few examinees can reach all items, and power tests allow most test-takers sufficient time to attempt all items. Educational achievement tests are sometimes described as "timed power tests" because the amount of time provided is intended to allow nearly all students to complete the test, yet this…

This report summarizes some of the evidence supporting interpretations of scores from the enhanced ACT, focusing on reliability, concurrent validity, predictive validity, and score comparability. The authors argue that the evidence presented in this report supports the interpretation of scores from the enhanced ACT as measures of high school…

ACT retesting occurs when students take the ACT® test multiple times with the goal of improving their scores and postsecondary credentials. In this paper, the author examines preliminary data for the 2022 ACT-tested graduating cohort to better understand the ACT score gains that occur with retesting. The author presents the following six things to…

When applicants take the ACT® more than once, how do colleges and universities reconcile and make sense of the multiple scores? In terms of validity, fairness, and impact on subgroup differences, are certain score-use polices better than others? The focus of this issue brief is to summarize evidence on the validity and fairness of various…

Test-optional and test-blind admissions policies accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic would appear to imperil College Board's SAT college-entrance exam, the rival ACT, and their respective parent organizations. This state of affairs follows years of complaints that the exams favor the affluent. And, in fact, both of the notoriously secretive…

Studies have investigated contextual factors such as family, school, and peer support for test preparation, and results generally indicate that students with a stronger support system are more successful at increasing their scores by the use of test preparation. One important contextual factor, often overlooked in the literature, is how a testing…

Beginning in September 2020, students will have the option to retake one or more sections of the ACT® test (referred to as section retesting, modular testing, or single-subject retesting), instead of needing to take the entire battery again. Section retests will only be available to students who have previously completed the full battery and only…

This data byte explores students' open-ended responses about how the coronavirus pandemic has impacted them academically. Students commented on the impact to their opportunities for taking the ACT® test; issues of time related to taking the test, preparing for the test, and college admissions deadlines; and the greater demands being placed on them…

The percentage of students retaking college admissions tests is rising. Researchers and college admissions offices currently use a variety of methods for summarizing these multiple scores. Testing organizations such as ACT and the College Board, interested in validity evidence like correlations with first-year grade point average (FYGPA), often…

This dissertation investigates several topics in state merit-based financial aid research. The main research content includes three separate studies, primarily using the administrative datasets from the Missouri Department of Higher Education. The first study is an empirical paper that examines the effects of the Missouri Bright Flight Scholarship…