1. ACT College-Readiness Measures: Explore, Plan and the ACT Hal L. Sanderson, Ph.D. Director of Institutional Research & Assessment Evidence-Based Learning Office Canyons School District

2. Our targets:  Understand how the ACT College-Readiness Measures relate to Canyons District’s 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 CSD’s 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 District’s 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 student’s 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 student’s 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 student’s 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 1-361-321-25

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 CSD’s Differentiated Diplomas  In the winter of a student’s 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