ACT launches new college and career readiness assessment

College and career readiness are clearly important characteristics to have at the high school level, but it is a cumulative process for students to get there. Now, ACT, the organization behind the college assessment, has announced plans to help better determine how ready pre-high school students are for college and careers — and whether they are on the right track for success.

The education nonprofit has opted to evaluate elementary through high school students, grades 3 through 10, through the new “next generation” assessment system “to address the gap between the skills students are learning in school and the skills they will need to succeed in college and careers in the increasingly competitive global economy.” The organization’s research shows that intervening in a student’s academic career to get them on track for college or the workplace is most effective when done early on.

“ACT wants to elevate testing to achieve the higher purpose we established when the company was founded in 1959 — providing critical information to guide students along their journeys toward success in school and their future work lives,” said Jon Whitmore, chief executive officer for ACT, in a press release. “Periodic assessment of what students have learned, starting early in their academic career, will help them, their parents and educators know what steps they must take to stay on the right path. ACT’s next generation assessment system will be designed to accomplish this.”

The assessments will be based on the Common Core Standards, which were created by educators and experts to create consistency in the way students are educated and prepared for the workforce. The “next generation” assessments for elementary and high school students will also  seek to evaluate science skills and “other critical areas needed for success after high school.”