ACT Newsroom & Blog

 

It’s an exciting, scary, and emotional time, for all involved! And, no matter what path you choose (two-year, four-year, workforce/CTE, a credentialing program, military, or something else entirely), ACT supports all students finding their best fit on their journey to education and workplace success.

Whether you’ve applied to a program, been accepted and enrolled, or are still figuring out what your path looks like, the following advice can help you along the way.

For the college-goers and college-hopefuls

You have many people in your life—like your teachers, counselors, guardians, and mentors—to help you along the way. Remember three key things: It’s important to create a plan, apply to college(s) that best fit you, and make a decision that feels right for where you are today and where you’d like to be in the future.

Here’s some advice from counselors, educators, and education advocates that they wish their younger selves would have known when they were just starting out:

1.) Create a Plan

"I was lucky because both of my parents attended college. It was always an expectation of my family that I would pursue postsecondary education and they were able to help me navigate the process. If you aren't so lucky, be sure to use your resources, find the right people (i.e. school counselors, advisors, mentors) to help you on your journey, you do not have to do this alone." --Dr. Marci Waldron-Kuhn, ACT State Organizations member

2.) Apply to Colleges that Best Fit You

"My personal college decision played a pivotal role in my success in college, and now my career.

We all have qualities that are unique to us. I am a proud Mexican-American raised by my grandparents in a 'working class' neighborhood in Houston’s northside. Those tough streets cultivated lots of qualities and assets in me that some colleges were not ready to receive.

So, the most important piece of advice I give to my students is that they need to interview the college just as much as the college interviews you. When it’s a bad 'fit' you run the risk of arriving to campus and becoming 'invisible' in the hallways, paths, classrooms, and campus life. It is all about being seen and heard. You want to thrive and bring your voice to campus. Many of the skills that I currently use in my daily work, I learned outside of the class assignments and academic work. I believe and I have witnessed that when students find a college that’s a 'fit' they’re in a better position to maximize their full potential as a person."  –Bryan Contreras, vice president, myOptions

BONUS TIP: "Apply early! I wish I would've applied to college sooner. I waited until the last minute, because I was undecided, and missed out on a lot of financial aid. I wish I would have applied early and given myself time to make a last minute decision without it impacting my financial aid package." --Summer Gortney, Kentucky state coordinator for American College Application Campaign

3.) Make A Decision that Feels Right Now (with Later in Mind)

"As a career coach, I understand that choosing a career is sometimes a difficult decision for your life's journey.

I personally discovered that a defining moment can give you the answer to help you choose a career.

When I was thinking about what I wanted to study in college, I remembered that I did not understand how my parents owed so much in taxes but were below the poverty earnings. I realized I wanted to become an accountant to help people understand about taxes and finance." --Michael Burnside, director of career services for Atlanta Technical College, ACT State Organizations member

"Remember that you are going to work for the next 30, 40, or 50 years. Find something that you are passionate about. Work towards a degree that will allow you to feel motivated and meet your goals. When work is something that you love doing, you never work a day in your life." -- Chad Bartlett, director of organizational strategy, data, and policy, Green Hills AEA (Iowa), ACT State Organizations member

For the “credentials or career” crew

You, too, have many mentors and advocates rooting for you, even if you don’t know them personally. Remember that you don’t have to take a “traditional” path. No one knows you, your passions, and your skills better than you do! Introspection and self-discovery will serve you well.

1.) Use Your Skills as a Starting Point

"Over 94% of Americans over the age of 25 have received their high school diploma or equivalent (according to NCES). While that is a fantastic number, it now means you must compete with 94% of the population for a job. What sets you apart from the crowd? You need something your employer can "hang their hat on," so-to-speak. Committing to a degree, apprenticeship, or certification beyond high school will show potential employers that you have already invested in yourself and your employability."-- Skye Feather, academic advisor, Pierpont Community & Technical College

2.) Take Time for Personal Discovery…and Research

"Take an interest inventory to see how your innate interests align to different career options. Look into what the job market is for the careers you're interested in. Then consider what training is needed and who is providing the training to enter that career path." -- an associate vice president of workforce development, ACT State Organizations member

"Remain open minded. Your exposure to all that is available might be limited at the moment, so it might not be reflective of every opportunity that you can access. Be willing to ask questions and learn from multiple experts, rather than only reading or listening to one resource. Completing an application, attending a meeting, reading a brochure, or listening to a presentation is not a commitment—it is getting informed. Take action, follow through, and start saving forms, pamphlets, and messages in an 'after high school plans' bin or file folder so you will have them saved for when you need them." –Sheryl Smith, counselor, Auburn City Schools, ACT State Organizations member

Florence Cooper dropped out of school at age 10. She worked in the cotton fields of South Carolina as a young girl. The only “textbook” available to her was the Bible.

She moved “up North” as a teenager—where she found limited job options and unhealthy living conditions. Very dissatisfied with life in the North, she returned to the South, and spent her life working as a housekeeper. Florence wanted more but didn’t have the education or support needed to pursue the career of her dreams. Determined to provide her children with a better life, she made a commitment that all of her children and grandchildren would be highly educated. Florence and her husband, John, sent all four of their kids to college—no small feat in the segregated South, during the 1960s.

Florence set the stage for future generations of the Cooper family to aspire to and succeed in college.

Michelle Asha Cooper, the acting assistant secretary for the Office of Postsecondary Education in the U.S. Department of Education, is Florence Cooper’s granddaughter.

I spoke to Michelle, a long-time professional colleague and friend, about her upbringing and why she believes in the power of education. Her advice appears below.

How Hope, Resilience, and a Dedication to Workforce Readiness Sparked ACT’s First Work Ready Community

IOWA CITY, Iowa—On May 22, 2011, Joplin, Mo. was hit by a tornado that destroyed nearly one-third of the city. Saturday marks the 10-year anniversary of that devastating event.

The road to economic recovery was long and (literally) littered with debris. Relief and revival came from hard work and many helping hands, including those of ACT team members.

Two years later, Jasper County (Joplin) became the nation’s first ACT Work Ready Community (WRC).

“The roots of a cohesive, national workforce development program were growing across the nation, and in Joplin, when the tornado hit,” said ACT’s Jasen Jones, then the executive director of the Workforce Innovation Board of Southwest Missouri. “But the tornado fast-tracked this national need, which ACT cultivated and grew into Work Ready Communities.”

Work Ready Communities is a community-based framework that links workforce development to education; aligns with the economic development needs of communities, regions, and states; and matches individuals to jobs based on skill levels.

The leaders in the recovery efforts for Joplin, along with the Citizens Advisory Recovery Team, prioritized the attainment of a work-ready designation as a means for recovery. Prior to the tornado, ACT® WorkKeys® and the ACT® WorkKeys® National Career Readiness Certificate® (NCRC) were already gaining momentum in Joplin, and surrounding states had begun to develop pilot programs that influenced the national Work Ready Communities initiative.

“We saw there was a real need to make some statement nationally that Joplin is open for business and really working hard on recovery,” said Rob O’Brian, former president of the Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce. “So, we circled back to becoming a Work Ready Community.”

Amid its work with Joplin and area leaders to assist in the disaster recovery efforts, ACT announced the creation of the national Work Ready Communities initiative at a WorkKeys conference in January 2012.

Today, Missouri has an 89 percent participation rate in Work Ready Communities, with 102 of 114 counties in the state participating in the program. More than 5,300 employers in the state support WRCs and nearly 142,000 NCRCs have been earned, demonstrating a strong talent pipeline for the state’s future growth.

To learn more about how ACT Work Ready Communities can support your area in attracting, retaining and developing a skilled workforce, go to https://www.workreadycommunities.org/For an in-depth discussion of Joplin’s disaster recovery efforts, check out this episode of the ACT Ready for Work Podcast.

We conducted an initial survey of high school students in late March of 2020, where students reported a broad range of experiences related to the abrupt shift to learning from home. Unfortunately, we found that students who were already part of populations traditionally underserved in education were often facing additional challenges that only exacerbated preexisting inequities.

In June, we followed up with the students originally surveyed in March to better understand students’ experiences as the COVID-19 pandemic wore on. We asked the March students again about what they were experiencing, and then asked a new group of students who had registered to take the October ACT test about their experiences as of that month. Reports on these two surveys, addressing online learning and basic needs and mental health supports and academic preparedness, were recently released.

We hope that these reports offer policymakers, educators, and parents insight into students’ perceptions of the effect the pandemic has had on their learning and other needs.

What the research tells us

Academics

Students who were asked about their online learning experiences in June 2020 reported large gaps between what they needed to be successful and what they received. In particular, noticeable gaps emerged in these categories: receiving clear and understandable materials (66% received versus 90% needed); a manageable number of assignments (50% received versus 81% needed); and timely responses to questions (63% received versus 77% needed). A quarter of students reported being unable to complete schoolwork because of unreliable internet, at least sometimes.

The consequences of these barriers to effective learning were seen in our October survey. More than 80% of students were concerned that spring 2020 school closures had negatively affected their academic preparedness for the current school year, and a similar percentage were concerned that their college preparedness had been negatively affected. More than half of students were concerned about being prepared in math this school year, but only a quarter were concerned about being prepared in English/language arts.

Mental health

In June 2020, half of students reported that their school had communicated the availability of mental health supports—though only 41% of students in rural areas had received such communications. Two thirds of students shared that someone at school had reached out to see how they were doing, with almost three quarters of Black students reporting such outreach.

However, when a different group of students was asked in October 2020, only 50% of students reported that an adult at their school had reached out to ask how they were doing since the start of the school year, with students learning in a hybrid model (i.e., both at-home and in-school learning) less likely than students learning only in person to say that someone had reached out. A higher percentage of students (66%) said there was an adult at their school they felt comfortable contacting, but this number was lower for students learning virtually and students of color. Students learning in person were more likely to agree (71%) that their school could effectively help students experiencing mental health issues. It is possible that these differences between surveys emerged, at least in part, from increasing stress due to the additional months spent under pandemic conditions.

What now?

Both reports offer recommendations to policymakers and educators regarding how to best support students’ self-reported academic and social and emotional/mental health needs, particularly around providing mental health resources to students and their families. (It is also important to note that while the mental health support needs of students are substantial, support must also be provided for educators.) Some of these recommendations are listed below, though we encourage you to read the reports for more detail.

Recommendations for online learning and basic needs:

• Support teachers in maintaining effective communication with students.
• Ensure all students have reliable internet and devices.
• Ensure all students have access to healthy food.

Recommendations for mental health and academic preparedness:

• Ensure that schools have the resources to offer mental health supports and that students are proactively informed of these resources.
• Provide parents with resources to support the mental health of their children.
• Actively recruit counselors, teachers, and other staff members of color.
  
  

These insights may be used to aid summer school planning and preparations for the 2021-22 school year. We plan to release further research on the effects of COVID-19 in the months ahead.

Recommended Reading

• Read all COVID-related research from ACT

After a school year like no other in recent history, students’ behavioral skill development, mental health, and academic learning opportunities were put to the test. As school systems make plans for summer school and going back to in-person learning in the fall, ACT’s research on school safety offers several points for consideration, including the importance of a thorough review of safety measures and student input on those measures.

Before we look at the school safety research, let’s focus for a moment on behavioral skills and how they connect with school safety and educational success.

More than 55 years’ worth of ACT research tells us that students’ behavioral skills are essential for educational success. For example, according to our holistic framework, “behavior tends to predict procrastination, prosocial interactions, aggression, and conduct problems, all of which, in turn, facilitate (or impede) academic performance.”


Student aggression and conduct issues are of particular concern. Research suggests that there may be multiple short- and long-term detrimental effects on students who experience school violence, disruption, and bullying. These include such things as increased anxiety, cognitive processing difficulty, reduced motivation and attention, health issues, learning problems, and lower academic performance as measured by grade point average, standardized test scores, and graduation rates.

Unsafe schools in which violence, disruption, and bullying occur often create a challenging learning environment for many students. We know, from a recent, large-scale analysis of student survey and education record data from more than 700 New York City middle schools, that standardized test scores can be negatively affected in unsafe schools.

Our Study on School Safety and ACT Performance

To test whether this played out on ACT test performance, we invited high school students to share their opinions on the safety of their schools. In our study, which was based on data from nearly 15,000 students who had taken the ACT, we found that several school safety characteristics were positively related to ACT performance.

These include:

1. not requiring daily metal detector checks before entering the school building;
2. having school security staff;
3. explaining school emergency plans to students;
4. having a perceived low presence of gangs at school; and
5. having low concerns on the part of students about school safety negatively affecting their ability to learn.

Our Recommendations

1. Schools should implement a thorough review of their safety measures and consider all options, to avoid a one-size-fits-all approach that might be ineffective. The safety review would attempt to consider the overall student experience and not overemphasize how students’ ACT test performance might or might not be affected by school safety characteristics.
2. Given students’ widely varying perspectives on school safety measures, policymakers, school administrators, and teachers should collect and use student input when deliberating the implementation of such measures.
3. Those responsible for decisions related to school safety measures should ensure the collection and analysis of local school data, local community data, and detailed survey data from their respective areas to inform their efforts. Although we analyzed some school-level data in our study, there are likely other, local data that would be important for decision makers to access and include in their conversations around safety measures.
   
   

My mother didn’t graduate high school. She got married to a handsome young man in Army flight school, who was soon deployed to Europe. She started the life of a military wife and lived all over the world. She raised a great family, and was grateful for her life, but something was missing.

Growing up, I watched Mother sit in her reading chair for hours on end, always with a book in her hand. She read history books, novels—anything she could get her hands on. Her whole life, she was committed to learning.

My dad passed away young, at 62, and at 55, my mother decided it was time to go back to school. She was the definition of a lifelong learner.

I was a high school senior at the time Mother decided she would go to college. At the time, I had no idea just how much work she put in to make her dream a reality. She had to earn her GED, take the ACT (yes, she took the ACT!), ready her application materials, and apply to college.

She was accepted and in 1983, she walked onto the University of Oklahoma campus—the same year I did—for her first college class.

She was brave.

The pride I have for her now is immense. How scary must that have been for my mother to embark upon her learning journey so late in life? It takes courage to go back to school, especially as a “non-traditional” student. But when you do the work to earn the credentials you desire, you are honoring yourself and investing in your future. It matters.

The linear path is a total myth. Every student, every learner, has so many different factors and circumstances that they’re navigating. It’s just not possible for every journey to look and feel the same. That’s why it’s so important for me to ensure that ACT honors all pathways and on ramps for learners.

People come to college with different circumstances, backgrounds, and considerations (e.g. financial, familial, health, etc.). ACT is here to provide resources, good information and help learners take the path that’s right for them, and to be their GPS when things get tough. Life happens. You may go in and out of school. You may switch your career path seven times. Our resources are inclusive because learning is personal.

My mother worked hard in college and got good grades (she was Phi Beta Kappa!). I’ll never forget when she knocked on my door to tell me she aced her Statistics class, a subject that she initially struggled with. “Janet, Janet, Janet! I got an ‘A’!” The joy and pride she felt in herself was inspiring.

Not only did my mother go on to get her bachelor’s degree in three years, she then earned her master’s in social work in one year. At the age of 60, Shirley Godwin got a job outside of the home for the first time in her life. She was credible, empathetic, and well-qualified to care for her clients. Her age was an asset.

The ACT fee waiver program was designed to serve students from low-income families, a population that often struggles to access education-related opportunities on an equal footing with more affluent peers. It’s our duty as a nonprofit, mission-driven organization to not only offer the ACT test for free to these students, but to make it easy for eligible students to access the test.

Previous blogs in this series explored fee waiver use and why students who register for the ACT using fee waivers do not test as scheduled. Students who sign up to test using a fee waiver are less likely to take the test as scheduled compared to students who pay the registration fee, and students shared a variety of reasons for being unable to test as scheduled.

An important caveat: the research and survey represent students’ experiences before the COVID-19 pandemic. We have seen fewer students testing using fee waivers during the pandemic for a variety of reasons, which our research does not address, but our recommendations and the overall need to lower barriers and increase opportunities remain applicable today.

What is ACT doing to improve access for students from low-income families?

As of September 2020, eligible students now have access to four fee waivers (up from two) and can send unlimited score reports to colleges (up from 20). Though we encourage everyone to register promptly, students registering past the deadline using a fee waiver will no longer face any late fees.


Our new and improved test registration site, MyACT, makes it easier to register and offers a prominent reminder to students registering using a fee waiver that they have free, one-year access to The Official ACT® Self-Paced Course, Powered by Kaplan®, our paid test prep product, so that they can use this resource to review content or help themselves become more comfortable with the ACT test format.

In addition, while a printed admission ticket is an essential resource containing important match information that helps score answer documents, it is not required—this helps eliminate a barrier to entry for students who may be unable to access a printer.

Ty Cruce, Raeal Moore, and I conducted this research because (like so many others at ACT) we believe in the value of the ACT test and the importance of keeping it accessible to all students. And ACT’s work to expand access and increase attendance does not stop here. A team spanning the organization was recently established to further improve access to the ACT fee waiver program. We will keep you posted regarding future improvements to this very important program.

How can you as an education stakeholder help improve access?

ACT cannot fix systemic barriers alone. We’re inviting policymakers, practitioners, and other stakeholders to join us in working to help students from low-income families access all available resources, including the ACT test.

State and local policymakers can:

• work with ACT to offer school-day testing so that transportation barriers and work schedules, among other issues facing students, do not serve as an impediment;
• hire more school counselors so that staff have more time to explain the benefits of taking the ACT using a fee waiver and address each student’s specific needs;
• equip students with tools to reduce stress and anxiety—which may include prioritizing teacher professional development, increasing counseling capacity, and/or introducing or expanding programs and curricula incorporating social-emotional learning; and
• provide transportation for students taking the ACT test on Saturdays.
  
  

Principals can:

• adopt school-day testing, if it is not offered at the state or district level;
• work with ACT to register your school as a Saturday test center, so that students, including those using a fee waiver, can test at a familiar location;
• emphasize the importance of taking the ACT test to staff and students, to avoid conflicting extracurricular events;
• incorporate ACT-tested essential skills and knowledge into curricula;
• equip students with tools to reduce stress and anxiety, including making sure staff have the resources they need to offer support; and
• provide transportation to Saturday ACT test locations.

School counselors and teachers can:

Make a plan with students to:

• address scheduling conflicts;
• include time for test preparation;
• set reminders for requesting a test accommodation;
• successfully upload a photo before the deadline;
• secure transportation;
• confirm the test time, date, and location;
• bring the materials needed to test; and
• remember to set an alarm.

This is the final blog summarizing our four-report research series on fee waivers. Blogs examining ACT's fee waiver program from additional perspectives are forthcoming. Catch up on previous blogs in the series:

• Using Research to Boost the Fee Waiver Program and Buck the No-Show Trend
• Why Do So Many Fee-Waived ACT Registrations Go Unused?

In the final blog of our three-part series on ACT content and fairness reviewers, Jennifer Johnson—a high school English teacher at Booker High School in Sarasota, Florida—blogs for us on the professional camaraderie she enjoys as a content and fairness reviewer, and how the process has evolved during COVID-19. Read on and don’t forget to catch up on the first and second blogs in the series. Happy National Teacher Appreciation Week to our many dedicated content and fairness reviewers!

I chose to become an English teacher because I love language and literature. Little did I know that most of my students would not share such (nerdy?) enthusiasm. While I absolutely love lighting the spark in them, sometimes what I really need is professional camaraderie. I found exactly that when I had the opportunity to review test items for ACT.

I was introduced to this whole process when a colleague who had recently reviewed test items for ACT gave them my name as a potential reviewer. At that time, I was a sent a package of test materials to read and review before I would fly to Iowa City to be part of the panel review. I was nervous when I first arrived but was quickly put at ease. Everyone at the table was working toward the same goal, and everyone shared my love of language. What followed was a two-day discussion and review of the test items. We played with grammar and language and made nerdy jokes that only language lovers would appreciate. It was a fantastic professional experience. This was several years ago, and the process has changed a bit.

More recently, the item review is done one hundred percent electronically. The types of items reviewed and the focus of the review depends on which test ACT is currently developing and where they are in the item writing process. I have reviewed reading passages and writing sections for the ACT. I have also reviewed items for high school tests. My favorite items to review, though, are the writing and grammar passages.

The panel discussions are an invaluable experience. For me, I gain insight into what ACT is testing (English is a living language and its grammar is always evolving) and how they make certain that every item is valid and reliable. These reviews also help me improve how I assess my students. Multiple choice test questions can be quite complex, so it’s a great way to hone my assessment skills.

ACT values inclusion and diversity in the passages they select and in the ways questions are asked. Therefore, in addition to ensuring valid and reliable test items, reviewers are asked to pay attention to cultural perspectives and inclusive language. If a passage or item is problematic, it will be changed or excluded from the final draft. I teach at a school with a diverse faculty and very diverse student body. Equity is always my goal. To that end, I often look beyond the textbook and beyond the canon of dead, white men (Kurt Vonnegut, however, remains an all-time favorite of mine). The test passages include literature, natural sciences, and history among a few others. I have learned a lot from the passages, and they serve as a reminder of how I want my class and the texts I cover to feel for my students. I have read passages on such a variety of topics from ocean exploration to fungi to narratives set on every continent to the origin of candy. It is a wholly invaluable experience to review test items for ACT.

Jennifer is an English teacher at Booker High School in Sarasota, FL. She has been reviewing test items for ACT since 2013.

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.

Too many students who use a fee waiver to register for a free ACT test do not test on their scheduled test date. As a nonprofit, mission-driven organization dedicated to expanding college access, this is very concerning to us. We wanted to better understand the issue and explore how we might work with our partners to fix it.

As part of our extensive research on fee waivers, we asked students directly about their experiences. Using those data in combination with other sources, we sought to understand why ACT fee-waived registrations go unused. ACT is committed to the success of students from low-income households and believes that students should be seen and engaged holistically across their learning journey. Successful use of the ACT fee waiver is an important step along the way.

As our previous blog exploring fee waiver use explained, we examined registrations completed using a fee waiver over a five-year period from 2014-15 to 2018-19 (before the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic). More than one in five registrations for the ACT were completed using a fee waiver, but over a quarter of those students registering using a fee waiver did not test as scheduled and over half of those students never tested within a three-year period.


We emailed students who registered using a fee waiver but did not test as scheduled for the October 2019 national test date. Thousands of students responded to tell us why they were unable to sit for the ACT test.

Why did some students say they were unable to test as scheduled?

They needed to be somewhere else. (24%) Some students experienced a family emergency or other unexpected conflict, while others had forgotten about a band performance or other pre-scheduled event.

They didn’t have everything they needed to test. (17%) Some students forgot or weren’t able to upload a picture before the photo registration deadline, while others had an expired ID or were unable to print their admission ticket.

They were sick or injured. (14%) Some students gave examples of injuries such as breaking a bone at an athletic competition the night before, and others cited illness such as waking up suffering from a cold that morning.

They didn’t have transportation. (12%) Students may have had their ride cancel on them or forgotten to arrange transportation with a family member or friend.

They overslept. (7%) Some students forgot to set an alarm, while others slept through it.

They didn’t feel prepared enough to take the test. (7%) Students may have felt that their anxiety level was keeping them from testing, or wished they had taken more time in advance to review the topics being tested.

Taking the ACT was no longer necessary. (4%) Some students had already earned the scores they needed for the college of their choice.

They forgot about the test. (3%) Most of these students simply said they forgot the test date because they had other things on their mind while other students reported that they thought the test was on a different day.

They had the incorrect date or location. (3%) Some students thought they were testing on another day or month, while others went to the wrong testing location and were unable to arrive at their scheduled location in time.

Another 10 percent of students gave some other reason.

Most students (66%) didn’t know until the day of the test that they would not be testing as scheduled, while 33% of students knew a week or more ahead of time.

Last week, President Biden addressed a Joint Session of the U.S. Congress and the American people to reflect on the accomplishments of the first 100 days of his administration. He also proposed the ambitious American Families Plan and American Jobs Plan, calling on Congress to fund policies and programs that would keep America on the path to recovery. Many of President Biden’s proposed initiatives would provide resources that can increase Americans' access to education and workforce success.

Increasing Pell Grants

The President’s call to increase Pell funding sends a strong signal about the continuing value of higher education and will enable students from high-needs families and communities to take advantage of higher education opportunities. ACT, along with more than 1,500 other education organizations and higher ed institutions, has called on Congress to #DoublePell for just that reason: “Doubling the maximum Pell Grant — and permanently indexing the grant to inflation to ensure its value doesn’t diminish over time — will boost college enrollment, improve graduation rates, and honor the history and value of these grants as the keystone federal investment in college affordability.”

Funding for HBCUs, HSIs, and Tribal Colleges

Directing additional funds to institutions serving large proportions of students of color – including Black, Latinx, and Native American students – is an important step in making sure that historically underserved populations have equitable access to higher education, including institutions that are culturally relevant and sensitive to their unique backgrounds and cultures. ACT supports this targeted funding increase as one of many investments needed to improve postsecondary access and success for students of color.

Closing the Digital Divide

ACT has long been a champion of closing the digital divide, which our research shows disproportionately affects students of color and those from rural communities. Guaranteeing broadband access for all communities will ensure that everyone has access to the resources and learning that they need to succeed.

Community College for All

President Biden’s call to make community college free for all gives more students additional options and could open pathways for those who may have thought their dream of realizing their higher education potential was out of reach. ACT supports increasing access to community college – whether they are entering directly from high school, or are taking a less traditional path – including high schoolers participating in dual enrollment programs.

STEM

President Biden forcefully challenged America to reestablish American leadership in research and development across the spheres of technology, science, and medicine. To meet this challenge, America must redouble its efforts in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education. According to ACT research on high-performing STEM majors and preparation in STEM, successful STEM majors in college were high-performing high school students. We know how important it is to prepare students academically, which requires access to rigorous curriculum.

Opportunities to Work

As the President noted in his address, the intent of the American Jobs Plan is to pair much-needed improvements to our country’s infrastructure with the creation of millions of good jobs. Employment opportunities have been severely affected by COVID-19, and too many Americans are facing an uncertain future. Many are wondering if they will find a place in the economic recovery. With overwhelming numbers of individuals who must rejoin the workforce or seek out new opportunities in a shifting economy, there is a tremendous need for skill development opportunities that will facilitate successful transitions from lost jobs that may not return to the new jobs of tomorrow.

For many years, ACT has played a prominent role helping people make career transitions in the wake of economic shifts and natural disasters. Our workforce solutions help employers to determine the required skills to perform a specific job, provide self-paced and self-directed curriculum for “upskilling,” and ensure that jobseekers have the foundational abilities necessary to learn job-specific skills and excel in the workplace. As our country endeavors to “Build Back Better,” it is essential that we align job-specific and work-based learning programs (including apprenticeships) with regional workforce development efforts to meet employer needs and attract new industry, especially in our rural and underserved communities. ACT is uniquely positioned to partner and assist in these efforts.

ACT stands at the ready to work alongside President Biden’s administration, the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Labor, and Congress – as well as our many partners in states and districts around the country – to deliver on the promise of education and workplace success for all.