TOPEKA — Kansas juniors will be able to take the ACT test and WorkKeys assessment for free during the 2018-2019 school year, the Kansas State Department of Education announced Tuesday, Aug. 7.

Kansas joins 18 other state education agencies currently providing the ACT for students.

The ACT test, introduced in 1959, gauges a student’s readiness for success in the first year of college. The test provides standardized data on student achievement and readiness. The no-cost ACT test will be offered statewide Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019.

The ACT WorkKeys assessments have been used for more than two decades to measure essential workplace skills and help people build career pathways. WorkKeys measures foundational skills, including both hard and soft skills. Every junior in Kansas will have the opportunity to earn an ACT WorkKeys National Career Readiness Certificate. There are three assessments required to qualify for the certificate, ACT WorkKeys applied math; ACT WorkKeys workplace documents; and ACT WorkKeys graphic literacy. The free WorkKeys assessment will be administered statewide Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019.

KSDE recommends that all juniors – as well as those seniors who didn’t have an opportunity to take the assessments during the 2017-2018 school year – take both assessments.

All juniors in Kansas will be able to take the ACT/WorkKeys free of charge during the 2018-2019 school year. Read more here: https://t.co/FOHhyRn1JH

— KS Dept of Education (@ksdehq) August 7, 2018