ACT has collected and reported data on students' academic readiness for college since 1959. As a trusted nonprofit leader in research on college and career readiness, ACT is committed to continuing our efforts to provide data and information to help solve the daunting problems faced by our nation. ACT is designing research and data to provide insights not only on academic achievement, but also on student behavior and goals. The insights provided in this series of reports help individuals better prepare for success throughout their lives, from Kindergarten through Career. These new efforts will broaden and extend ACT's core mission: helping people achieve education and career success. This report provides a look at the progress toward college readiness made by middle school students and students at the midpoint of high school who took ACT Explore® and ACT Plan® during the 2011-12 school year. In determining a student's progress toward college readiness, these reports help answer the following questions: (1) What percentage of students meet the ACT Explore and ACT Plan College Readiness Benchmarks in each subject area?; (2) How many students are exposed to ACT Explore and ACT Plan?; (3) How have ACT Explore and ACT Plan scores changed over a five-year period?; and (4) What policies and practices can states and schools implement to improve the college readiness of students? This report includes notes on ACT College Readiness Benchmarks.