ENGAGE Your Students!ENGAGE Your Students!

April Hansen ACT Client Relations

In College and Career Readiness

The level of preparation a student needs to be ready to enroll and succeed in—without

remediation—a first-year, credit-bearing course at two- or four-year institutions or in trade or

technical schools.

Adopted by the Common Core State Standards Initiative

ACT’s Definition of College and Career ACT’s Definition of College and Career ReadinessReadiness

How do we define college and career readiness?How do we define college and career readiness?

TestCollege Course

EXPLOREGrade 8

EXPLOREGrade 9

PLANGrade 10

ACT Compass

EnglishEnglish

Composition 13 14 15 18 77

MathCollege Algebra 17 18 19 22 52

Reading Social Science 15 16 17 22 88

Science Biology 20 20 21 23 NA

Empirically derived scores needed on an ACT subject-area test to indicate a 50% chance of obtaining a B or higher or a 75% chance of obtaining a C or higher in the corresponding first-year credit-bearing college course.

Students who are college/career ready when they leave high school have a significantly higher likelihood of:

Enrolling in college the fall following high school graduation

Persisting to a second year at the same institution

Earning a grade of B or higher in first-year college courses

Earning a first-year college GPA of 3.0 or higher

Not needing to take a remedial courses

Graduating within 150% of time

Entering the job market with significantly higher lifetime earning potential.

Regardless of ethnicity and SES

Why Should We Care?Why Should We Care?

7

• Many students are not prepared to meet the hurdles they face throughout the academic pipeline, and they don’t persist and succeed.

NCES 2010

Enter 9th grade

HS Graduate

Enter College

College Graduate (Bachelor’s)

~100% 96.9% 74.9% 52.5% 29.0%

Leaky Educational Pipeline

Our ChallengeOur Challenge

Between 2008 and 2018…

29 million students will graduate from public high schools … 34 million jobs will need to be filled due to retiring or

transitioning workers… 10 million of the 29 million public high school graduates will

be underrepresented students who traditionally have been underserved by K-12 education.

To fill workforce demands, it is critical that each student graduate from high school ready for college and career.

Source: Business Roundtable, Dec. 2009

Pop Quiz

What’s the number of American high school students who drop out of school, every day, bored, frustrated, or so far behind that they’ve given up?

6,000

Leaky Educational PipelineLeaky Educational Pipeline

$26,000Average annual salary difference between college and high school graduates

Source: 2008 Census Bureau

Earnings PotentialEarnings Potential

What if you had an assessment that would:What if you had an assessment that would:

• evaluate students’ personal, behavioral, and academic skills critical to high school and college achievement

• determine their levels of academic risk• apply specific interventions to help them persist in their

studies and achieve academic success• identify student strengths and areas for improvement in

student motivation, social engagement, and self-regulation• predict college retention for each incoming freshman

You Do!You Do!

Research is the FoundationResearch is the Foundation

14,000 Students at 48 postsecondary institutions

Thousands of students in grades 6-9

Reviewed meta-analysis of 109 studies that examined predictors of academic performance and retention

Research is the FoundationResearch is the Foundation

1. The strongest predictors of college persistence and degree completion are: prior academic achievement and course selection (rigorous high school classes).

2. Prior academic achievement and cognitive ability surpass all other factors in their influence on student performance.

3. Non-academic factors can influence academic performance, retention and persistence, but cannot substitute for it.

106 questions; 30 minutes

108 questions; 30-40 minutes

Retention Index:

likelihood of graduating from high school or returning for the next year

Academic Success Index:

likelihood of a GPA of 2.0 or higher

2 Predictive Indices2 Predictive Indices

1. Monitor student behavior: goal-setting, feelings management, social connection, etc.

2. Promote appropriate curriculum activities, career planning, understanding of financial aid, work experiences and school activities.

3. Place the highest priority on their strengths, but also provide suggestions for progress.

4. Add up to 30 local items.

5. Test online and run reports immediately.

What You Can Do:

6. Track students’ progress and assess the effectiveness of activities and interventions.

7. Administer at orientation/beginning of school year and have reports for early in the semester.

8. Target known “at-risk” groups.

9. Create a cross walk of scales to your services and use within an existing framework of services.

10. Consider the whole student.

What You Can Do:

Reports:Student AdvisorRosterAggregate

Resources:User GuideStudent Tool shop

Reports and ResourcesReports and Resources

© 2012 by ACT, Inc. All rights reserved. 25

Profile of scores

Success Indices(only on Advisor Report)

Interpretive feedback, sorted from strengths to needs

© 2012 by ACT, Inc. All rights reserved. 26

ENGAGE: Sample Interpretative ReportsENGAGE: Sample Interpretative Reports

© 2012 by ACT, Inc. All rights reserved. 31

Case Studies

• McPherson Unified School District, McPherson, Kansas– Enrolls 2,400 students– McPherson assesses students in grade 6 as a baseline and

grade 9 to confirm they are on track– Based on scores, have targeted three groups of students for

intervention – Staff review academic/non-academic, student advisors meet

with students to create plans and develop their skills

© 2012 by ACT, Inc. All rights reserved. 33

Sample Crosswalk of ResourcesSample Crosswalk of Resources

Scale Definition Resources

Academic Discipline Effort put into school work and the degree to which students see themselves as hardworking and conscientious.

• Learning Center• Office of Exploring Majors• Math Tutor Lab• Student Writing Lab

Social Connection Feelings of connection and involvement with school and community.

• Off-Campus Student Services• Transfer Center• Residence Life• Recreation Center

Academic Self-Confidence Belief in ability to perform well in school.

• Learning Center• Counseling and Testing• Office of Exploring Majors

www.act.org/engage