ACT Newsroom & Blog

During the fall 2017 “ACT Senior Retake Opportunity” in Tennessee, a misadministration of the ACT test occurred at a small number of Tennessee high schools—affecting several hundred students through no fault of their own.

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November 29, 2017

The Honorable Randy McNally
Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee
425 5th Avenue North
Suite 700 Cordell Hull Bldg.
Nashville, TN 37243

Lieutenant Governor McNally:

Thank you for taking time yesterday to meet with us to discuss the unfortunate misadministration of the ACT test that occurred during the fall 2017 ACT Senior Retake Opportunity, affecting several hundred students through no fault of their own or ACT.

ACT deeply regrets the inconvenience and confusion the misadministration has caused to impacted students at such an important time in their lives. We also regret that so much misinformation has been generated about this issue and the ensuing public perception that ACT is “punishing” students. As we discussed with you and the other leaders, we are committed to acting with integrity and doing what is in the best interest of all of our stakeholders in providing college readiness test scores that are valid, reliable and useful for all concerned.

We know students rely on standardized test scores from the ACT to make informed decisions about their future, particularly admissions, scholarship and career path decisions – universities around the country rely on the ACT for the same thing. It is imperative that ACT be able to stand behind the scores that students achieve so higher education and scholarship agencies can make critical decisions which affect students and their families.

We can assure you that ACT works relentlessly to provide clear instructions to students and schools to ensure the high-stakes ACT test is administered properly and fairly.

We have instituted several steps and check points to ensure an accurate, fair and honest test experience. Schools notify ACT of their intended test date so ACT can send the appropriate materials to each school based on the information they provide to us. It is unfortunate that in the case of Bearden High School in Knoxville, the test materials ordered by the school – with clear designation regarding the intended test date – were administered on the wrong test date. This resulted in a flawed test event and invalidated the test scores. An invalidated test cannot yield a college reportable score.

When a misadministration like this occurs, ACT takes seriously the concerns of stakeholders about the accuracy and reliability of the ACT test score, due to the possibility of information sharing about specific test questions and answers that may enable some students to have an unfair advantage. An invalid test cannot be translated into a college reportable score, leaving ACT with the difficult but necessary decision to notify students about the situation that occurred through no fault of their own.

ACT is taking several steps to assist students and their families impacted by the misadministration.

We have offered – and are continuing to offer – impacted students an opportunity to retake the ACT test for free during a future ACT national test date. We have been communicating with impacted students and providing them with information about their options. Currently, 294 students impacted by misadministration during the Senior Retake Opportunity have registered for the December national test.

We are aware that some impacted students may be facing college admission or scholarship deadlines and we are working with higher education officials to mitigate any negative impacts on students. In those cases, ACT provides a letter that students may share with colleges confirming that they took the ACT in October 2017 but did not receive scores through no fault of their own.

We deeply regret that students and ACT have been negatively impacted by this misadministration by the school, but we are also mindful of students who could be impacted by the release of scores we cannot validate. There is no ‘win’ in this situation, only our best effort to keep the playing field level by making sure all released scores are the result of a standardized administration.

We look forward to sharing additional detailed information about the situation with you. Meanwhile, please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any further questions.

Yours sincerely,

Paul Weeks
Senior Vice President, ACT Client Relations

Scott S. Montgomery
Senior Vice President, ACT Public Affairs

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November 6, 2017

Sessions Focus on Strengthening Local Economic Competitiveness, Improving Employment Base and Workforce Skills

IOWA CITY, Iowa—This week, ACT will be convening workforce professionals, economic developers, educators, industry association members, employers and community leaders at its annual ACT Workforce Summit in Austin, Texas.

The goal of the summit, to be held on November 8-10, is to share information, ideas and best practices that attendees may use to help strengthen the nation’s employment base, ensuring a workforce that can sustain and grow the economy. The focus will be on providing the tools and support that are needed to develop the type of workforce that employers want.

The theme of this year's ACT Workforce Summit is “Connect, Stack and Build.” Attendees will learn the importance of:

• Connecting with colleagues to share ideas on how to bring employers and job seekers together to grow their communities; 
• Stacking credentials to help develop and document the skilled workforce communities need to hold a competitive advantage;
• Building partnerships using the framework developed by ACT to help workforce and economic development groups create the skilled workforce employers need.

The three-day summit will feature numerous sessions on topics such as: developing a skilled workforce, engaging employers, closing the skills gap, skills needed for the future workplace and strategies for increasing job access and economic mobility.

Speakers and presenters at the summit will include former Missouri Governor Jay Nixon, documentary film subject Katrina Gilbert, former US Department of Labor Assistant Secretary Jane Oates, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Vice President Jean Wallace, research scientist Christopher T. King and ACT Chief Commercial Officer Suzana Delanghe.

The summit is available to individuals by registration only.

The ACT Workforce Summit is recognized by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) to offer Professional Development Credits (PDCs) for the SHRM-CPSM or SHRM-SCPSM and is valid for 8.5 PDCs for the main conference and up to an additional 2.25 PDCs for the pre-conference sessions. This activity has met HR Certification Institute's® (HRCI®) criteria for recertification credit pre-approval. For more information about certification or recertification, please visit www.shrmcertification.org.

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How often have you heard stories about students who earned “A”s in high school only to go on and drop out of college because they lacked the motivation or grit to persist?

Such anecdotes underscore why it’s so important for people to develop both academic and nonacademic knowledge and skills to be successful in school and work.

At ACT, we take a holistic view of individuals. We have developed a framework of holistic skills, based on nearly 60 years of research, so that schools, districts, states and employers will have a more complete description of the factors essential to an individual’s readiness for college and career.

We are offering the ACT Holistic Framework free to educational institutions so they can align to it and develop a standardized approach, connecting learning and assessment, in order to personalize education.

The Holistic Framework is an integrated picture of contemporary knowledge and skills, based on four domains:

• Core academic skills in the areas of literacy and language arts, mathematics and science, which are mapped to learning progressions from kindergarten to career. 
• Cross-cutting capabilities facilitate performance across different content areas, such as critical thinking, studying and learning, collaborative problem solving, and information and technology skills.
• Behavioral skills—such as acting honestly, getting along with others, maintaining composure and sustaining effort—impact success in both school and the workforce.
• Education and career navigation skills influence individuals as they progress on their educational and career paths, such as making informed, personally relevant decisions and developing actionable, achievable plans. 

For teachers and employers, the framework identifies skills needed at various stages from kindergarten to career to assist students or employees who may need additional support or development. Students and employees can use the framework as a developmental guide as they seek to gain the skills and knowledge needed to achieve their own personal goals.

Think of the ACT Holistic Framework as a personalized navigation system. If you haven’t been somewhere before and don’t know exactly how to get there, a GPS can sure come in handy. But if you and I are going to different places—and maybe even starting out at a different point—the directions we receive will be entirely different. The framework can provide individualized direction for students starting at different places—and going different directions—on their college and career readiness path.

There are many factors that can shorten, extend, or totally derail one’s journey to college and career readiness. Students are exploring different colleges, majors, and careers which require different profiles of knowledge and skills. Becoming a successful dentist requires a different set of skills than becoming a brilliant software engineer.

The ACT Holistic Framework provides information helpful to assessing the likelihood of individuals reaching their personal goals given where they are right now while identifying potential areas for improvement.

Finally, some individuals simply don’t know where they are heading. In those cases, the ACT Holistic Framework can identify career pathways that are a good fit based on their unique profile of knowledge and skills.

Ultimately, the ACT Holistic Framework offers the ability to help prepare and support individuals as they transition from education to a fulfilling career—no matter what path they choose.

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