ACT Newsroom & Blog

For Immediate Release:

Iowa City, IA - ACT today announced that edtech veteran Eric Wenck has joined the assessment company as chief technology officer.

“This leadership position is paramount to our continued growth and success and reflects our unwavering commitment to world-class experiences for learners, educators, team members, and ACT partners,” said ACT CEO Janet Godwin. “With 35 years in the information technology and education industries, I’m confident Eric is poised to lead ACT’s technology initiatives well into the future.”

Eric will lead a team of approximately 200 team members working with Product and Operations teams to deliver enhancements to current services, new products, and optimal internal systems to ensure the highest quality experiences for everyone engaged with ACT.

“Having built my career in the education and technology space, I’ve been able to combine my passions for mission-based work and business discipline,” Wenck said. “I can’t think of a better place than ACT to continue that work by developing technological innovations to help realize the company mission of leading the industry in best-in-class educational products and services. It’s truly a privilege to join ACT.”

In addition to its flagship college readiness test, ACT provides PreACT assessments, work-ready assessments that lead to recognized certification, and assessments for international students seeking to demonstrate their English-language skills and readiness for college in the United States and other countries.

The ACT is equally accepted at all major institutions of higher education in the United States, including Ivy League schools, and at more than 400 higher ed institutions outside of the U.S.

“Everyone at ACT recognizes that our systems provide critical points of connection between learners, educators, institutions of higher education, and future employers,” Wenck said. “I’m excited for the opportunity to help ensure those systems remain reliable and expandable to meet growing and changing needs.”

On April 5, 2025, over 16,000 students took the inaugural administration of the enhanced ACT test. These test enhancements, which were announced last year, reflect ACT’s commitment to student feedback while upholding the test’s integrity and the validity of its skill assessments. The enhanced ACT focuses more on what students know rather than how fast they can answer questions.

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Today ACT, the mission-driven provider of assessments, research, and work-ready credentials designed to support education and workplace success, announced the appointment of Ramit Varma to its board of directors. As an accomplished ed tech innovator, Varma will bring a wealth of wisdom and experience using transformative technology to solve systemic problems. Varma will serve a three-year term on ACT’s Board of Directors.

“The entire team at ACT is excited to welcome a leader like Ramit to the board,” ACT CEO Janet Godwin said. “We look forward to benefiting from his strategic thinking and innovation mindset as ACT offers new ways to help all people achieve education and workplace success, and we are honored that he will advise us as we continue our efforts to support learners and their champions.”

Varma takes a unique, forward-thinking view on AI technologies. His passion lies in ensuring AI tools are used to find optimal solutions for global needs. Over the past decades his work as a founder of education companies shows an impressive track record of merging technology with curriculum and instruction to unlock learner potential. For Varma innovation begins by focusing on the need, and tools are in the background to enable transformative change.

Varma’s accomplishments during a long and distinguished career in ed tech and higher education prepare him to make significant impact on ACT’s Board. He is CEO and co-founder of Breakout Learning, an AI-powered platform designed to facilitate meaningful small-group discussions that inspire critical thinking and peer-to-peer interaction. He also co-founded Revolution Prep, pioneering online tutoring in a first-of-its-kind online match of tutors and students. As a lecturer at top business schools and an in-demand keynote speaker, he has taught on strategy, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Varma holds an MBA from UCLA and a BS in electrical engineering.

Varma will be joining the board with Karen Cator, Bethlam Forsa, Damian Giangiacomo, Evan Glucoft, Janet Godwin, Tony Miller, and Steve Tapp.


About ACT
ACT is transforming college and career readiness pathways so that everyone can discover and fulfill their potential. Grounded in more than 65 years of research, ACT’s learning resources, assessments, research, and work-ready credentials are trusted by students, job seekers, educators, schools, government agencies, and employers in the U.S. and around the world to help people achieve their education and career goals at every stage of life. Visit us at www.act.org.

Contact: Allie Ciaramella; allie.ciaramella@act.org

 

By: Janet Godwin, CEO, ACT

In July, I had the privilege of attending ACT’s Enrollment Management Summit, a gathering of admissions and enrollment professionals focused on the pressing issues in higher education. It's one of my favorite events of the year, where I get to learn from some of the most innovative minds in the business.

This year's Summit was especially exciting for me, as it was the first opportunity I had to share the ambitious work ACT has done to offer students more choice and flexibility in demonstrating their readiness for life after high school. For more than six decades, ACT has evolved to meet the challenges students and educators face, and we are laser focused on providing the best tools and opportunities for success.

Continuing our legacy of innovation and guided by feedback from students, educators, and experts in K-12 and higher education, we are implementing two fundamental changes to the ACT test.

Focus on Flexibility

First, we have made the test more flexible for students by giving them the ability to choose whether to take the science section. English, reading, and math remain as the core sections of the ACT test that will result in a college-reportable score. Like the writing section, science will be offered as an additional section. This means students can choose to take the ACT, the ACT plus science, the ACT plus writing, or the ACT plus science and writing. With this flexibility, students can focus on their strengths and showcase their abilities in the best possible way.

The Composite score will be the average of the English, reading, and math scores. The Composite and section scores will continue to be reported on the same 1-36 scale, and stakeholders can continue to use them as powerful indicators of achievement and college readiness. Additionally, as in years past, students can still opt to take the test online or with paper and pencil.

A Shorter Test

We've also reduced the length of the test by up to one-third, depending on which version of the test students take. The new core test will last just two hours, compared to three hours for the current test. To achieve this, the test will include shorter passages on the reading and English sections and fewer questions in each section – 44 fewer questions in all – allowing students more time to answer each question thoughtfully. This change is designed to make the testing experience more manageable for students, enabling them to perform at their best without the fatigue that often accompanies longer exams.

Both of these exciting changes, along with other enhancements to modernize the test, will roll out starting with National online testing in spring 2025 and then for school-day testing in spring 2026.

These changes to the ACT test reflect our commitment to continually evolving to meet the needs of learners and underscore our legacy of innovation that has been at the core of ACT’s mission since 1959. ACT broke down barriers in 2006 when we introduced school-day testing, ensuring that all students have access to a college-reportable score that reflects their readiness for life after high school. In 2017, we led the industry in offering online testing. In 2020, we met the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic by opening pop-up testing centers with protocols to ensure the safety of test takers. In 2023, ACT introduced Encourage, our free college and career planning program that is used in more than 10,000 schools and provides nearly 1 million high school students every year with resources to explore pathways to success after graduation.

As ACT continues to innovate and adapt, our dedication to providing accessible, reliable, and forward-thinking readiness solutions remains steadfast, ensuring every learner has the opportunity to succeed.

I’m thrilled about the future and the opportunities that lie ahead for us and those we serve. Our unwavering commitment to meeting the evolving needs of students and educators drives us forward. These enhancements are just the beginning, and we are eager to continue revolutionizing how we prepare learners for future challenges and opportunities. For more than 65 years, ACT has embraced innovation, and we are focused forward on delivering our vision to transform college and career readiness pathways so that everyone can discover and fulfill their potential.

IOWA CITY, Iowa — ACT, Inc., the mission-driven provider of the assessments, research, and work-ready credentials designed to support education and workplace success, today announced that it has completed its formation of a new Delaware public benefit corporation and closed on its partnership with Nexus Capital Management, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm.

IOWA CITY, Iowa — ACT, the mission-driven provider of the assessments, research, and work-ready credentials designed to support education and workplace success, today announced a new partnership with Nexus Capital Management LP, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm.

“Our partnership with Nexus Capital Management uniquely positions ACT to meet a watershed moment in our nation, as the demand for talent is growing and becoming more diverse. The need to prepare learners for success after high school for both college and work has never been higher, nor has the need to ensure that every learner has access to equitable college and career planning resources, guidance, and insights,” ACT CEO Janet Godwin said. “Partnering in this way will complement and amplify ACT’s proven platform of education and work readiness solutions to support the needs of students, educators, and employers alike. We will accelerate our plans to meet the needs of our stakeholders as they navigate an evolving and complex system to develop the essential skills critical for success in a rapidly changing world of work.”

“This partnership will create more pathways to degrees, credentials, and skills acquisition for people at any stage of their lives,” said Daniel A. Domenech, chairman of ACT’s board of directors and former executive director of AASA, the School Superintendents Association. “The time is right to move into the next phase of ACT’s long-term growth strategy alongside a partner with significant industry expertise, giving ACT the scale and capital necessary to deliver on its promise of education and workplace success.”

Upon closing, ACT and Encoura, an education data science and research organization that is a wholly owned subsidiary of ACT, will unify and operate as a public benefit corporation, with ACT’s name and brand. The integrated business, known as ACT, will advance the organization’s leadership in education and workforce readiness as it services the needs of all ACT stakeholders through new investments in ACT’s products and people. Godwin will continue to lead ACT as CEO of the new company.

Through integrating ACT’s systems of assessments and workforce solutions with Encoura’s data science and strategic enrollment services, ACT will be able to deliver holistic readiness credentials and more precisely connect students and job seekers to institutions of higher education and employers. ACT will simplify and streamline the college application process for students and institutions, better match employers with available talent, create new opportunities for upskilling mid- and late-career professionals, help learners identify their strengths and provide recommendations about applying them in education settings and the workplace, and provide more integrated and actionable insights to states, districts, families, and learners.

“We are excited to partner with ACT’s leadership team in this next chapter of growth to deliver enhanced capabilities for students, school districts, postsecondary institutions, employers, and government stakeholders,” said Damian J. Giangiacomo, co-founder of Nexus. Evan Glucoft, Nexus managing director, added, “The new ACT, through its diverse product offering, is well aligned with Nexus’ history of investing in companies focused on helping students succeed.”

Proceeds from the partnership will also fund the continuation of an Iowa nonprofit organization that will be headquartered in Iowa City. The nonprofit organization will conduct programs, services, and research focused on education and workplace success. The nonprofit will also retain an investment in the new public benefit corporation and have direct representation on ACT’s board of directors.

“ACT will always be driven by our mission, and this investment will allow us to accelerate delivery of impact solutions that are core to who we are — and always have been — including expanding access and opportunity for students,” Godwin said. “As a result of this investment, we will help more students be ready for their postsecondary paths, and help more adults advance in their careers.”

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions.


About ACT
ACT is transforming college and career readiness pathways so that everyone can discover and fulfill their potential. Grounded in more than 65 years of research, ACT’s learning resources, assessments, research, and work-ready credentials are trusted by students, job seekers, educators, schools, government agencies, and employers in the U.S. and around the world to help people achieve their education and career goals at every stage of life. Visit us at www.act.org.

Happy New Year! It’s hard to believe another year is ahead of us, with all the possibilities it portends. As I think back on 2023, I’m proud of what ACT was able to accomplish – and I appreciate this opportunity to share briefly how those achievements are setting us on a strong course for 2024. 

Last year, ACT continued to demonstrate its role as a thought leader in education and workforce. In October, we convened more than 400 workforce and economic developers, employers, human resource specialists, educators, and industry leaders for our sixth annual Workforce Summit. The event, our major yearly outreach to this key constituency, focused on resolving talent shortages, strategies for preparing emerging workers, upskilling current workers, building skills-based ecosystems in communities, the future of workforce learning, new paradigms of workforce engagement, supporting workers in transition, and building resilient economies. 

We also continued to advance our strong research agenda. We brought the insights of students to the public through our student voice series, which has examined their perspectives around issues such artificial intelligence, education disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the effects of the pandemic on students’ college and career choices, garnering media coverage that collectively had more than 390 million views. ACT’s research on grade inflation, first released in 2022, continued to be a newsmaker with new research in 2023 that showed persistent subject-matter grade inflation, particularly in math and science. And in October, ACT released our annual National Graduating Class Report for 2023, which contained data on the “COVID cohort,” showing that a previously seen trend in declining college and career readiness had been accelerated by the pandemic. 

It’s not just our more than 60 years of data and insights that makes me proud. Last year, ACT told you that we would be bringing digital testing to the national market – something we’ve successfully been doing in state, district, and international testing for years – and we did! In December we delivered the first pilot test administration, and we’re on track to make the online version of the test available to all students this fall. 

But perhaps the most exciting thing we did last year was announce ACT’s vision for the future: By 2032, ACT will empower 20.2 million more learners to exit high school ready for postsecondary and work opportunities. And it is with that vision in mind that ACT is focused forward, looking ahead to what we can deliver in 2024. Our holistic suite of resources helps students discover and navigate pathways toward college and career readiness and success through: 

• Amplified connections and access for students to college and career opportunities. 
• New and enhanced products that reflect redefined readiness.
• Actionable insights and analytics to support decision-making and recruitment and retention strategies.

We have much planned as we look ahead. Guided and driven by our long-term strategic vision, we will be expanding and enhancing the solutions we offer to help learners and their champions assess their knowledge and skills – as well as the processes and platforms by which we make meaning from those assessments and translate them into insights of value for those users as well as educators, employers, and others who share a stake with us in the education and workplace ecosystem. Over the course of this year, you’ll hear more from me and other ACT leaders about how we are focused forward – laser focused – on delivering on our vision and how we intend to get there. We can’t do this without you, so please stay connected, reach out, and watch this space for more news from ACT. I can’t wait for all we’ll accomplish together in 2024 and beyond!

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Today ACT, the nonprofit learning organization and provider of college and career readiness assessments, announced the appointment of Ricardo D. Torres to its board of directors. Torres will bring a wealth of knowledge and experience leading efforts to make education and training after high school more equitable, accessible, and successful for all learners.

“The entire team at ACT is excited to welcome a field leader like Rick to the board,” ACT CEO Janet Godwin said. “He has dedicated his career to actively pursuing the kinds of policies, practices, and mindsets that open doors and create more equitable opportunities for all students. His work aligns with ACT’s mission to help all people achieve education and workplace success, and we are honored that he will advise us as we continue our efforts to support learners and their champions.”

Torres, who is president and CEO of the National Student Clearinghouse, will serve a three-year term. He joined the Clearinghouse as its president and CEO in 2008. Under his leadership, the Clearinghouse has continued to successfully extend its mission delivery of access-driven service to education, providing accessible innovative technology-based services and data exchange solutions that enable education institutions and organizations to focus on being engines that maximize human potential development. Torres has served on the board of Brightpoint Community College, formerly John Tyler Community College, for 20 years, and he has served on the board of Achieving the Dream since 2021. Prior to joining the Clearinghouse, he had a long and distinguished career in the private sector, both in the U.S. and abroad, including serving as COO at BestPractices, a nationally recognized provider of emergency medicine and physician practice management, and Capital One, a financial services company. Torres has also held management positions in leading organizations such as PepsiCo and Philip Morris/Kraft Foods (now known as Altria Group). His diverse background includes financial and strategic planning, marketing and sales, general management, and executive leadership.


About ACT
ACT is a mission-driven, nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people achieve education and workplace success. Grounded in more than 60 years of research, ACT is a trusted leader in college and career readiness solutions. Each year, ACT serves millions of students, job seekers, schools, government agencies and employers in the U.S. and around the world with learning resources, assessments, research, and credentials designed to help them succeed from elementary school through career. Visit us at www.act.org.

Contact: Allie Ciaramella; allie.ciaramella@act.org

This year’s EMS was particularly exciting for me, as it was the first opportunity I’ve had to share the ambitious work we’ve done to reimagine ACT’s vision and strategic direction for the future. At ACT and Encoura, we’ve weathered the pandemic. We’ve reckoned with the implications of test optional. And we’ve explored the needs of the education and workforce systems, and we’ve emerged with a renewed focus directed toward the students we all serve.

Our strategic, long-term vision sets a bold course. By 2032, ACT will empower 20.2 million more learners to exit high school ready for postsecondary and work opportunities. This ambitious vision requires that ACT concentrate our work around five strategic pillars.

Build. ACT is building best-in-class, responsive assessments and delivery platforms that will position ACT and our stakeholders to have significant impact on our education and workforce ecosystem.

Inform. ACT is shifting from data provider to insights ally for learners and organizations. Holistic analytics and insight reporting will empower better decisions and create opportunities for success.

Connect. ACT is amplifying learners’ connections and access to compelling postsecondary and work opportunities. In collaboration with Encoura, ACT is enhancing and aligning the ACT test to reflect redefined readiness, bringing new products to market to meet unmet needs, and providing more value to learners, families, and educators.

Mobilize. ACT is redefining readiness to capture the knowledge, skills, behaviors, and navigation that matter now in both postsecondary and career pursuits. We are strengthening ACT’s thought leadership to marshal support for redefined readiness nationwide.

Partner. ACT will accelerate the adoption and use of our robust suite of solutions for the K-12, postsecondary, and workforce systems. We are collaborating with key stakeholders to ensure continued product innovation.

ACT will renew and deepen its commitment to equity, access, and opportunity for all as it realizes these strategic pillars. Changing demographics demand that colleges and employers seek and engage a population that is increasingly diverse and mostly from low-income households. Our vision and aligned work will create solutions for a world of evolving opportunities and provide more support for learners to chart pathways toward greater mobility and economic prosperity.

We’ve got our work cut out for us. But by moving forward with a laser focus, we will make it happen. And I want you to be part of it alongside ACT. We want to hear from you, work with you, transform with you. I’m counting on you – and so are the 20 million students we are ready to serve!

ACT shares the disappointment of many in the U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions in the Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard University and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina cases, which strike down the use of race as a factor in college admissions. In our joint amicus brief submitted to the Court, ACT reiterated our long-held belief that individualized holistic review of individual students’ applications in the higher education admission process does not involve “racial categorization” or “stereotyping,” as SFFA maintains, but rather is reflective of a process in which all relevant factors, considered in combination, shape applicant-specific judgments about their ability to succeed, and their ability to contribute to, and benefit from, their learning environment, peers, and community.

By: Janet Godwin, CEO

Our world is changing, and ACT must change with it. Our commitment to our mission requires that we meet the changing needs and expectations of students and their families, educators, employers, and employees.

It’s with this in mind that we are taking steps to offer the ACT test online for test takers on national test dates. ACT has been a leader in online testing for years. We’ve been offering the test online for state and district testers since 2016, and for test takers internationally since 2018. We recognize the growing demand for flexible testing options, not only for today's students but for those who support them. We want to give students greater autonomy over their testing experience, which is why our goal is to provide students with choice, flexibility, and accessibility, all while maintaining the high standards for which we are known.

What’s happening?

Online testing will be available in December 2023 as a limited pilot for 5,000 testers at a select number of test centers. Registration for the first ACT online national test in December will open this July. We have chosen to pilot the test to allow for controlled implementation, to consider feedback, and to ensure the best possible testing experience for students. We will expand capacity to include more test centers for students as we move through 2024.

What’s changing?

The ACT test is not changing. Our decision to offer students the choice to take the ACT their way, whether that’s online or on paper, means that students have a choice in the testing experience that best suits their unique learning style and preferences. The online option is an important step toward expanding equitable and inclusive testing experiences for all students.

• ACT will begin offering students the choice to take the ACT online, starting with a limited pilot of 5,000 testers in select U.S. test centers launching in December 2023. Registration for the pilot program will be available in July 2023. Paper testing will continue to be available.
• ACT will expand operational capability for its online offering as we move through 2024.
• ACT's online testing experience provides students with more choice, flexibility, and accessibility while maintaining the reliable and valid standards of the ACT test.
• ACT’s online option allows us to provide additional accessibility features, including support for screen reader users, text-to-speech functionality, zoom, and answer masking. These are not "features" for many of our students, but necessities for equal access. By offering an online option, we are able to help more students meet their goals for academic and career success. 

What’s staying the same?

The ACT test is staying the same for the purposes of expanded mode of delivery, whether students choose the online version or paper and pencil. Registration for both options will continue through the MyACT portal.

• Score reporting will be identical regardless of testing mode and the release of score reports will remain consistent for both testing options.
• ACT testing fees will remain the same for both the online and paper and pencil option.
• ACT’s fee waiver program will continue to be available to students who qualify for it, regardless of their choice of testing modality.

I’m excited about the future and the opportunities that lie ahead for ACT and those we serve. Our commitment to meeting the changing needs and expectations of students is unwavering — today, tomorrow, and in the future. We are eager to work alongside our community of education and workforce leaders and practitioners so that all students have opportunities to achieve their goals. Evolving is essential for us to achieve our mission, and we want you to be part of that journey with us.

Learn more about ACT’s online national test experience here.

When historians author their account of the “pandemic years,” many will offer their version of how the pandemic shocked and even threatened the college testing industry and organizations like ACT. Though the shock was dramatic, so is the transformation that has occurred since. This can be seen clearly in ACT’s renewed commitments to engage and serve our stakeholders in higher education.

IOWA CITY, Iowa—September 27— Today ACT, the nonprofit learning organization and provider of college and career readiness assessments, announced the appointment of three new board members who bring a wealth of knowledge and experience leading efforts to make education and training after high school more equitable, accessible, and successful for all students.

“The entire team at ACT is excited to welcome prominent leaders to our board who’ve been influential and meaningful leaders in the field,” said ACT CEO Janet Godwin. “They each have dedicated their careers to actively pursuing the kinds of policies, practices, and mindsets that create more equitable opportunities for all students. Their work aligns with ACT’s mission to help all people achieve education and workplace success, and we are honored that they will advise us as we continue our efforts to support learners and their champions.”

The new board members will serve a three-year term. They are:

Shirley M. Collado, president and CEO of College Track and president emerita of Ithaca College, is nationally known for designing and implementing innovative approaches that expand student access and success. Dr. Collado has previously served as president of Ithaca College, executive vice chancellor and chief operating officer at Rutgers University-Newark, dean of the college and vice president of student affairs at Middlebury, and executive vice president of The Posse Foundation, where she scaled its operations nationally. A first-generation college graduate, Dr. Collado is the first Dominican-American in the U.S. to serve as president of a four-year institution.

Jamie Merisotis is the president and CEO of Lumina Foundation, the nation’s largest private foundation committed solely to enrolling and graduating more adult students of color from college. Before joining Lumina in 2008, Merisotis was the founding president of the Institute for Higher Education Policy, an independent, nonpartisan organization regarded as one of the world’s premier education research and policy centers. Merisotis also served as executive director of the National Commission on Responsibilities for Financing Postsecondary Education, a bipartisan commission appointed by the U.S. president and congressional leaders. Jamie is also the author of two recent books: Human Work in the Age of Smart Machines and America Needs Talent.

Richard M. Rhodes is the chancellor of Austin Community College, where he has worked to improve pathways into higher education, strengthen awareness of the community college mission, and give students the tools to accomplish their educational, professional, and personal goals. He previously served as president of El Paso Community College. His professional associations include past chair of the American Association of Community Colleges; board member of the Texas Workforce Investment Council; and past chair of the Texas Association of Community Colleges.


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About ACT
ACT is a mission-driven, nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people achieve education and workplace success. Grounded in more than 60 years of research, ACT is a trusted leader in college and career readiness solutions. Each year, ACT serves millions of students, job seekers, schools, government agencies, and employers in the U.S. and around the world with learning resources, assessments, research, and credentials designed to help them succeed from elementary school through career. Visit us at https://www.act.org/.


Media Contact
publicrelations@act.org

 By: John Clark, senior director for ACT state government relations

ACT has collaborated with the National Lieutenant Governors Association (NLGA) to support the inaugural year of the NLGA Lieutenant Governors’ STEM Scholarship Program. The collaboration aligns with ACT’s commitment to help people achieve education and workplace success and parallels our long-standing belief that all students should have access to rigorous course-taking, including the opportunity to learn valuable skills in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to be competitive in college and career. In addition to math, the ACT has always provided a dedicated science test measuring STEM-associated skills like analysis, reasoning, and problem-solving, which indicate a student’s readiness for postsecondary STEM majors. ACT’s more than 30 years of workforce research also confirms that being able to apply these types of skills is essential for success in a vast and growing number of jobs across the U.S. economy.

Ensuring that students are prepared to be successful in college and career means that all students have access to a STEM education; however, access continues to be a barrier for many Black and Latinx students, as well as the 6.5 million students living in rural areas. Yet, STEM occupations are projected to grow more than two times faster than the total for all occupations in the next decade. In funding the NLGA STEM scholarship, ACT is hoping to make STEM programs a little more accessible to students, regardless of their postsecondary path, providing states and school districts more opportunities to deliver hands-on STEM learning. In 2022, the collective scholarships allowed the NLGA to provide direct STEM education to more than 3,000 students from pre-K-12, in a vast array of programming in STEM education including robotics, aquaponics, aviation, and agriculture, among others. 

Leading with purpose and living our mission is important to ACT as a national leader in education and workforce. We, like NLGA, know that championing bipartisanship issues, like access to STEM learning, can positively affect outcomes for students, districts, and states that are critical to our country’s future success. In ACT’s collaboration with NLGA, there is an even greater opportunity to share insights to ensure that public policy will positively effect student career success and academic achievement. Working together with NLGA to solve problems and improve the lives of students helps ACT deepen relationships and expand education and career opportunities for all. 

As we begin this Pride Month of June, ACT stands alongside our LGBTQI+ team members, family, educators, students, and community to celebrate and affirm their importance, identity, and continuing contributions. Now more than ever, as we see challenges that could undermine and harm our community, we believe it’s important to stand firm in our conviction that everyone deserves a safe and welcoming place to learn and work and grow. 

We believe that Pride isn’t simply one month, but a year-round commitment to ensuring that members of the LGBTQI+ community are celebrated and supported. And so, in the spirit of trailblazer Harvey Milk, who said, “We will not win our rights by staying quietly in our closets,” we at ACT:

• come together with the LGTBQI+ community as allies, advocates, and champions; 
• affirm the goals and aspirations of students, educators, and others whose voices must be heard and amplified in our education system — we see you and you matter; and
• celebrate our LGBTQI+ team members who work tirelessly in service to ACT’s mission of education and workplace success for all.

This month is time to stand up, show up, and speak up — we at ACT commit to that in celebration of Pride. Happy Pride Month!

IOWA CITY, Iowa — ACT, the nonprofit learning organization and provider of college and career readiness assessments, has appointed Ranjit Sidhu as the organization’s inaugural Chief Strategy Officer.

“I look forward to Ranjit rejoining ACT and its leadership team to execute ACT’s global strategy for supporting education and workplace success,” said ACT CEO Janet Godwin. “He is a dynamic leader with a proven record of enhancing social impact and organizational growth and a passionate fighter for fairness in education.”

“Since its founding, ACT has opened doors for many students who never imagined themselves on a college campus and supported generations of young people as they navigated life’s transitions by ensuring they had the knowledge and skills they needed to succeed,” Sidhu said. “I am excited and honored to rejoin ACT’s leadership team and expand the organization’s strategy for helping future generations achieve education and workplace success.”

As CSO, Sidhu will lead development of ACT’s inclusive strategic plan and strategy by collaborating with the leadership team, board, and CEO; drive the cross-functional creation and implementation of ACT’s strategy based on market trends; ensure alignment of long-term trends and short-term needs; and maintain business model innovation. He will report to ACT CEO Janet Godwin.

Sidhu is a widely respected nonprofit leader who has focused his career on creating strategies for improving student success, particularly for students from low-income communities and underserved populations.

Most recently, Sidhu was ASCD's CEO and Executive Director. Prior to ASCD, Sidhu served as president and CEO of the National Council for Community and Education Partnerships (NCCEP), the national organization for the GEAR UP program. He also served as Senior Vice President at both the College Board and ACT, where he focused in the areas of K-12 and postsecondary education, and workforce development.

Early in his career, Sidhu was a high school social studies teacher in the Washington, D.C., and Prince George's County, Md., public school districts. He holds master's degrees from The George Washington University and the University of Pittsburgh and a bachelor's degree from the University of Mary Washington.

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About ACT

ACT is a mission-driven, nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people achieve education and workplace success. Headquartered in Iowa City, Iowa, ACT is trusted as a national leader in college and career readiness, providing high-quality assessments grounded in over 60 years of research. ACT offers a uniquely integrated set of solutions designed to provide personalized insights that help individuals succeed from elementary school through career. Visit us at www.act.org.

Media Contact

Allie Ciaramella
allie.ciaramella@act.org

With Wednesday’s sentencing of Joey Chen in one of the final Operation Varsity Blues cases, and other sentencing decisions pending this summer, we are closing a troubling chapter. As part of its victimization in the fraud, ACT was invited to submit a victim impact statement to the court. Below is what was submitted by ACT’s Vice President and General Counsel Michael Clifton on behalf of the students and institutions we serve, who were the true victims in this case.

The administration’s ambitious 2023 budget proposal aims to advance economic prosperity and expand opportunity and outcomes for every student to thrive in the innovation economy. The proposed budget — totaling $88.3 billion in discretionary funding for the Department of Education — is a necessary next step in the recovery of our nation from the COVID-19 pandemic. If enacted, the budget will provide critical investments in systemically underserved communities and underfunded public-school systems.