The Current Status of High School Testing in Michigan:

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MICHIGAN
The Current Status of High School Testing in
Michigan The ACT Perspective
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Todays ACT Assessment...
A set of four multiple-choice tests which cover
English, mathematics, reading, and science. The
Writing Test is optional.
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Todays ACT Assessment...
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• A systematic approach to
• Student planning
• Assessment
• Instructional support
• Program evaluation

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Todays ACT assessments...

• Comprehensive review of state educational
  standards documents
• Surveys of educators
• Consultation with content area experts across the
  curriculum

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Todays ACT assessments...

• Oriented toward the general content areas of high
  school and college instructional programs
• Test questions require students to integrate the
  knowledge and skills they possess in major
  curriculum areas
• Scores on the tests have a direct and obvious
  relationship to students educational progress in
  curriculum-related areas

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• Reams of Reports
• Numerous reports on high schools were released
  last year. Among them
• "Breaking Ranks II Strategies for Leading High
  School Reform, National Association of Secondary
  School Principals, Reston, Va.
• Crisis or Possibility? Conversations About the
  American High School, National High School
  Alliance, Washington.
• Double the Numbers Increasing Postsecondary
  Credentials for Underrepresented Youth, Harvard
  Education Press, Cambridge, Mass.
• Fast Track to College Increasing Postsecondary
  Success for All Students, Jobs for the Future,
  Boston. (Requires registration.)
• High School and Beyond The System Is the
  Problemand the Solution, National Center on
  Education and the Economy, Washington. ()
• The National School District and Network Grants
  Program Year 2 Evaluation Report, Bill
  Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle. ()
• Profiles in Leadership Innovative Approaches to
  Transforming the American High School, Alliance
  for Excellent Education, Washington.
• Ready or Not Creating a High School Diploma
  That Counts, the American Diploma Project,
  Achieve, Washington.
• Stronger Fiscal Incentives Can Improve Secondary
  and Postsecondary Outcomes, National Governors
  Association Center for Best Practices,
  Washington.
• See papers commissioned for the U.S. Department
  of Educations National High School Leadership
  Summit, held in October 2003.

• From the Archives
• Bush Promotes Plan for High School Tests,
  January 19, 2005.
• Report High Schools Must Demand More, January
  5, 2005.
• Bush Test Proposal for High Schoolers Joins
  Wider Trend, September 15, 2004.
• High School Policy Gets Spotlight in Report to
  Southern Governors, September 15, 2004.
• Principals' Group Offers 'Field Guide' For High
  Schools, February 25, 2004.
• States Urged to Make High Schools A Priority, or
  Face Consequences, October 8, 2003.
• Getting Serious About High School, April 11,
  2001.
• For background, previous stories, and Web links,
  read High School Reform.

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College for All? At the 30,000-foot level,
theres a growing consensus that high schools
need to be more rigorous preparing all students
for postsecondary education, work, and
citizenship. I would argue that the research
base says, ... they need to be prepared for
postsecondary education because most of them will
either go or need the same level of skills to
have any chance to succeed in this economy,
argued Kati Haycock, the director of the
Education Trust, ...
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When the nations governors gather in Washington
this coming weekend for what is billed as a
national education summit on high schools, many
will come prepared to talk about initiatives
already under way back home. But the summits
organizers hope that an action agenda scheduled
to be released this weekcoupled with intensive
planning leading up to the meetingwill encourage
state leaders to leave the event ready to tackle
some of the more fundamental challenges in high
school improvement.
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Defining College Ready The 12-page action
agenda encourages states to restore value to the
high school diploma by raising standards for all
students and tying high school graduation tests
and requirements to the expectations of colleges
and employers. Colleges and employers must then
honor and reward student achievement on state
tests through their admissions, placement, and
hiring policies, it says.
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COLORADO
Statewide ACT Assessment is mandatory for
all grade 11 students.
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The Challenge

• Ensuring a uniform system of free public schools
  throughout the state, improving college
  attendance rates among minority and lower-income
  high school graduates, and decreasing college
  remediation.

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The Solution

• Administering the ACT Assessment to 11th graders
  statewide

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The Results
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Many more Colorado students are taking the ACT.

• The number of graduating seniors taking the ACT
  Assessment increased by 69 percent in 2003
  compared to 2001.
• The most dramatic increases in test takers
• Minority graduates (94)
• Males (85)
• Graduates from families earning 30,000 per year
  or less (70)

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College enrollment is up.

• The number of in-state, ACT-tested fall freshmen
  enrolled in Colorado colleges in 2002the first
  enrolling class affected by statewide ACT
  testingincreased by 23 percent compared to 2001.

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Access to college has expanded.

• Included in the increased college enrollments in
  2002 were 12 percent of the ACT-tested students
  who said they did not intend to go to college
  when they took the ACT as high school juniors.
• The number of in-state, ACT-tested minorities
  enrolled in Colorado colleges increased by 18
  percent in 2002 over 2001.
• The number of ACT-tested Colorado graduates who
  aspire to further their education after high
  school increased by 33 percent in 2003 compared
  to 2001.

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College readiness has increased.

• The number of Colorado high school graduates
  earning an ACT Composite score of 18 (the low end
  of the range for admission to colleges with
  liberal admission policies) or higher was 42
  percent higher in 2003 than in 2001.
• Significantly more Colorado graduates were ready
  for college algebra (32) and English
  composition (42) in 2003 than in 2001, based on
  their ACT scores.

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ILLINOIS
ALL grade 11 students take the ACT Assessment
and 2 WorkKeys tests.
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The Challenge

• Coming up with a set of high quality assessments
  that would accurately measure students' progress
  in meeting the learning standards set by the
  Illinois State Board of Education.

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The Solution

• Prairie State Achievement Exam (PSAE), which
  includes the ACT Assessment, two WorkKeys
  assessments, and three state-developed
  assessments in writing, science, and social
  sciences. The knowledge and skills measured by
  the ACT Assessment were determined to closely
  align with the Illinois Learning Standards.

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The Results
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Many more Illinois students are taking the ACT.

• The number of Illinois graduating seniors taking
  the ACT Assessment was 51 percent higher in 2003
  than in 2001, before the PSAE was introduced.
• The most dramatic increases in test takers
• Males (61)
• Minority graduates (50)
• Graduates from families earning 30,000 per year
  or less (45)

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College enrollment is up.

• The number of in-state, ACT-tested fall freshmen
  enrolled in Illinois colleges in 2002 (the first
  graduating class affected by PSAE testing) was up
  by 24 percent compared to the previous year.
• The number of these college freshmen from
  families earning 30,000 per year or less was up
  by 8 percent compared to 2001.

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Access to college has expanded.

• Included in the increased college enrollments in
  2002 were 15 percent of the ACT-tested students
  who said they did not intend to go to college
  when they took the PSAE as high school juniors.
• The number of in-state, ACT-tested minorities
  enrolled in Illinois colleges increased by 19
  percent in 2002 over 2001.
• The number of ACT-tested Illinois graduates who
  aspire to further their education after high
  school increased by 23 percent in 2003 compared
  to 2001.

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College readiness has increased.

• The number of Illinois high school graduates
  earning an ACT Composite score of 18 (the low end
  of the range for admission to colleges with
  liberal admission policies) or higher was 27
  percent higher in 2003 than in 2001.
• Significantly more Illinois graduates were ready
  for college algebra (21) and English
  composition (29) in 2003 than in 2001, based on
  their ACT scores.
• Illinois' state average ACT Composite score rose
  from 20.1 in 2002 to 20.2 in 2003, despite an
  increase in the number of students tested.

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OKLAHOMA
Higher educationsystem provides EPAS to ALL
students.
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The Challenge

• Oklahoma students were graduating from high
  school without the skills they needed to succeed
  in college. There were also achievement gaps
  between racial/ethnic minority groups and
  Caucasian students in the state's K-12 schools.

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The Solution

• A combination of higher college admission
  standards and ACT's Educational Planning and
  Assessment System (EPAS).

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Why EPAS?

• EPAS is the only assessment system in Oklahoma
  that measures student readiness along a continuum
  of college readiness benchmarks. In addition, the
  data, guidance, and feedback provided by EPAS are
  useful to students, parents, and teachers.

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The Results
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More students are taking the ACT college entrance
exam.

• For the 2002 graduating class, 26,717 students
  (72 percent of all graduates) took the ACT, an
  increase of 25 percent compared to 1992.

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ACT scores have risen.

• The average ACT composite score in Oklahoma rose
  from 20.0 in 1992 to 20.5 in 2002, outpacing the
  national growth in scores during this period.
• Oklahoma is one of only three (out of 16) member
  states in the Southern Regional Education Board
  (SREB) to have made gains on the national ACT
  average score.

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Rigorous course taking has increased,
particularly among minority students.

• The proportion of African American students
  taking core coursework has risen from 38 percent
  to 51 percent since EPAS was implemented.
• Native American core course taking rose from 39
  percent to 46 percent during the same time period.

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Students' educational aspirations have risen
following administration of each assessment.

• Educational aspirations of Oklahoma EPAS students
  rise between 8th and 10th grades, as well as
  between 10th grade and their taking of the ACT.
• Most students upgrade their aspirations to the
  level of a two- or four-year college degree.

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College attendance rates are up.

• The college-going rate rose from 51 percent in
  1997 (when participation in EPAS reached a
  critical mass number of districts) to 58 percent
  in 2002.

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College remediation rates have dropped in all
content areas.

• Oklahoma higher education's core competencies for
  college readiness and success are clearly defined
  and communicated to students and schools through
  ACT's Standards for Transition.

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Gaps between and among demographic subgroups have
narrowed.

• Oklahoma's African American, Native American, and
  Hispanic students now outscore their national
  peers on the ACT.
• The most significant contribution to the state's
  gains in ACT scores comes from increases in
  minority student scores.

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MICHIGAN
The Current Status of High School Testing in
Michigan The ACT Perspective
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Based on its 2004 ACT-tested high school
graduates

• Approximately 73,400 high school graduates took
  the ACT Assessment
• about 68 percent of the Michigan graduating class
  of 2004

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Based on its 2004 ACT-tested high school
graduates
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Based on its 2004 ACT-tested high school
graduates

• Approximately 1 in 4 of Michigans students are
  ready for college and work

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Based on its 2004 ACT-tested high school
graduates

• Approximately 1 in 4 of Michigans students are
  ready for college and work
• Almost half of Michigans students are nearly
  ready for college and work.

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Based on its 2004 ACT-tested high school
graduates

• Approximately 1 in 4 of Michigans students are
  ready for college and work
• Almost half of Michigans students are nearly
  ready for college and work.
• Approximately 1 in 4 of Michigans students are
  not yet, but could be, ready for college and work.

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ACT stands ready towork with Michigan
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ACT stands ready towork with Michigan

• Create a common focus

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ACT stands ready towork with Michigan

• Create a common focus
• Establish high expectations for all

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ACT stands ready towork with Michigan

• Create a common focus
• Establish high expectations for all
• Measure and evaluate progress

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Thank You! Visit our website www.act.org