This report looks at the progress of the ACT®-tested 2019 US high school graduating class relative to college and career readiness. The data in this report are based on nearly 1.8 million graduates--52% of the students in the 2019 national graduating class--who took the ACT at some time from grade 10 to 12. The ACT was taken by the majority of…

We derived an index of high school academic rigor by optimizing the prediction of first-year college GPA based on high school courses taken, grades, and indicators of advanced coursework. Using a large data set (n~108,000) and nominal parameterization of high school course outcomes, the high school academic rigor (HSAR) index capitalizes on…

Annually American College Testing (ACT) provides a snapshot of the college and career readiness of ACT-tested high school graduates. This report is designed to help educators understand and answer the following questions: (1) Are students prepared for college and career, and are younger students on target? (2) Are enough students taking core…

Since 1959, ACT has collected and reported data on students' academic readiness for college. As a trusted, nonprofit leader in research on college and career readiness, ACT is committed to continuing efforts to provide data and information to help solve the daunting problems faced by our nation. This report is part of a series of reports that…

The proposed federal STEM Teacher Pathway program seeks to produce 100,000 new, high-quality math and science teachers in the next decade. How difficult will the goal be to achieve? This report uses data from the ACT® college readiness assessment to examine the feasibility of producing 100,000 high-quality math and science teachers in the next…

The Common Core State Standards Initiative represents one of the most significant reforms to US education in recent history. As of June 2012, 45 states and the District of Columbia have adopted the Standards. ACT is pleased to have played a leading role in the development of the Standards. Not only did the initiative draw on its longitudinal…

The Common Core State Standards Initiative represents one of the most significant reforms to US education in recent history. As of June 2012, 45 states and the District of Columbia have adopted the Standards. ACT is pleased to have played a leading role in the development of the Standards. Not only did the initiative draw on its longitudinal…

The time has come to improve the quality of core courses so that all students have equal opportunities to become prepared for postsecondary education and for work. The purposes of this report are to examine the gap between secondary and postsecondary education in the U.S. and to focus on successful strategies for eliminating this gap so that all…