InterpretingScoresonthe

EnhancedACT:GuidanceforK-12andHigherEducationInstitutions

JamesRiddlesperger

ACTStateandFederalPolicy

?2025byACTEducationCorp.Allrightsreserved.

ACTState&FederalPolicy|InterpretingScoresontheEnhancedACT1

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EnhancingtheACT

Lastyear,ACTannouncedaseriesofenhancementsdesignedtomodernizetheACTtest

andofferstudentsmorechoiceandflexibilityindemonstratingtheirreadinessforlifeafterhighschool.Theenhancementsprovidestudentsmoreflexibilitybyallowingthemto

choosewhethertotakethescienceassessment,therebyreducingthetestlengthbyuptoone-third.Statesanddistrictsthatadministeraschool-dayACTarealsogivenmore

flexibility:theycanchoosetooffertheACTwithorwithoutscience,astheycurrently

chooseforwriting.Whenscienceandwritingarepartoftheiradministration,theyhavethechoicetoadministerthosesectionsonaseparatedayfromthethreecoresectionsof

English,mathematics,andreading.

Weseektocreatea

fairer,moreaccessible

experiencewhile

preservingtheACT’s

historicroleasa

nationallyrecognized

measureofacademic

achievementandcollegereadiness.

Theseupdatesaddressfeedbackfromeducatorsand

researchersaboutbalancingefficiencyandaccuracyinlarge-scaleassessments.Byreducingtestfatigueandsimplifyingcertainelementsoftheassessment,weseektocreatea

fairer,moreaccessibleexperiencewhilepreservingtheACT’shistoricroleasanationallyrecognizedmeasureofacademicachievementandcollegereadiness.Wehavemadethese

enhancementswhilemaintainingthetest’sreliability,predictivevalidity,andalignmentwithstateacademicstandards.

Inpreparationforthelaunchoftheenhancements,werecentlypublishedtechnical

documentationdetailingthetestdevelopmentprocessandthedataanalysesusedto

verifythattheACTcontinuestobeapowerfultoolformeasuringcollegereadiness

.1

Thisbriefservesasaguideforstakeholdersinsecondaryandhighereducationtotwokey

findingsoftheseanalyses:

1.Wedevelopedthetestenhancementstoensurethesectionscoresonthelegacy

ACTareinterchangeablewithsectionscoresontheenhancedACT.Asaresult,wedonotanticipateaneedforstatesorotherinstitutionstorevisittheuseofACTsectionscoresindecision-making.

2.TheCompositescoreontheenhancedACTwillbecalculatedusingEnglish,math,andreadingsectionscores(referredtohereafterwiththeshorthand“EMR”).ThisCompositescorecanbeusedinterchangeablywiththeCompositescoreonthe

legacyACT,whichiscalculatedwiththeEnglish,math,reading,andsciencescores(referredtohereafterwiththeshorthand“EMRS”),thoughtherearesomepracticaldifferencesinthetwoscores.Itisexpectedthatthescoreswilldifferforsome

1InitialEvidenceSupportingInterpretationsofScoresfromtheEnhancedACTTestsummarizessomeoftheevidencesupportinginterpretationsofthescoresfromtheenhancedACT.TheEnhancedACTLinkingStudyReportfocusesonpsychometricanalysesandfindingsfromtheJune2024linkingstudy.

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students,andindividualstudentdifferencescouldresultinslightlydifferentscoredistributions.Formostuses,thesedifferencesareofasimilarmagnitudetowhatstakeholderswouldexperiencewiththeannualvariationtheyseeinCompositescoredistributions.

Thesefindingsaredetailedbelow.Inthefollowingdiscussion,the“l(fā)egacy”ACTreferstotheversionofthetestthatisbeingphasedoutoverthe2025-26calendaryears,andthe

“enhanced”ACTreferstotheupdated,shortenedACTtestexperience.Additionalinformationabouttheenhancementsisavailableonourwebsite

.2

DesigningtheEnhancements

TheACTEnhancementsprovidemoreflexibilityforstudents,states,anddistricts.

UnderlyingtheACTtestisthebeliefthatstudents’

preparationforcollegeandtheworkplaceisbestassessed

bymeasuring,asdirectlyaspossible,theskillslearnedin

highschoolthatarerequiredforsuccessinfirst-yearcollege-levelcourses.Therequiredacademicskillscanbeassessedmostdirectlybyreproducingthecomplexityofthework

studentscompleteinhighschoolandareexpectedtocompleteincollegeinthe

classroom.Therefore,theACTisdesignedtodeterminehowskillfullystudentssolve

problems,graspimpliedmeanings,drawinferences,evaluateideas,andmakejudgmentsinsubjectmatterareasimportanttosuccessincollege.ThesephilosophicalfoundationsoftheACTtestarenotchangingwiththeenhancements.

Ashappenedafterotherperiodicreviews,externalexpertpanelswerebroughttogethertoevaluatetheproposedchangestothelegacyACTandtoevaluatetheknowledgeandskillstestedbytheACT.Weconductedaseparatepanelforeachtestsection,withreviewers

chosenbecauseoftheirknowledge,expertise,andexperience.Thesepanelsalsoevaluatedthealignmentofspecificationsandblueprintstoseveralstatehighschoolstandardsfor

ELA,math,andscience.Additionally,ourTechnicalAdvisoryCouncil(TAC)evaluateddraftandfinalversionsoftheenhancedACTblueprintsandspecificationstovalidatethattheassessmentwillcontinuetopredictcollegeandcareerreadiness.Fulldetailsaboutthe

changesmadetotestspecificationsandblueprintscanbefoundintheforthcoming“DesignFrameworkfortheEnhancedACTTest.”

LinkingtheEnhancedandLegacyACTTests

In2024,afterthenewformsoftheenhancedACThadbeenconstructed,weconducteda“l(fā)inking”studytoensurethattheenhancedACTmeasuresthesameskillsandknowledgeasthelegacyACTwhilemaintaininghighstandardsofaccuracy,fairness,andconsistentscoreinterpretation.ThestudyusedalargerepresentativesampleofACTtesttakerswhowererandomlyassignedtotakeeitherthelegacyACTtestformoroneofthetwo

2ACTTestEnhancements|ACT

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enhancedACTforms.TheresultsconfirmedthatsectiontestscoresfromtheenhancedACTareinterchangeablewiththosefromthelegacyACT.

ThefindingsaffirmthattheenhancedACTprovidesareliableandvalidmeasureof

students’academicreadiness,supportingconsistentinterpretationanduseofscores

acrosseducationalcontexts.Asaresult,wedonotanticipateaneedforstatesorother

institutionstochangetheiruseofACTsectiontestscoresindecision-making.Forexample,performancelevelsthatweresetthroughastandard-settingprocessesandotherACT

sectioncutscorescancontinuetobeused.

Reducedtestlengthhadminoreffectsonprecisionanddidnotaffecttheconstructsmeasured

OneofthemaindifferencesbetweenthelegacyACTandtheenhancedACTisthatthe

enhancedversionhasfewerquestionsandashortertestingtimebutmoretimeper

question.Thischangeaimstoreducetestfatigueandimprovethetestingexperience.

However,suchmodificationscouldpotentiallyresultinchangestotheconstructs

measuredinthetestsectionsandreducedscoreprecision.Thesefactorswereevaluatedaspartofthecognitivelabsandexternalpanelreviewsdescribedabove.Then,ouranalysesin

0.94

0.88

0.88

0.93

0.88

0.88

0.89

0.84

0.83

0.89

0.85

0.85

0.97

0.94

0.94

1.00

0.90

0.80

0.70

0.60

0.50

0.40

0.30

0.20

0.10

0.00

Reliability

LegacyFormEnhancedForm1EnhancedForm2

2.66

2.75

1.58

2.23

2.26

1.43

1.92

1.94

2.22

1.88

2.22

2.25

1.03

1.32

1.35

2.5

2

1.5

1

0.5

StandardErrorofMeasurement

3

0

aLegacyFormEnhancedForm1uEnhancedForm2

Figure1.ReliabilityandStandardErrorofMeasurementfortheLegacyand

EnhancedFormsoftheACTNotethattwoseparateformsoftheenhancedACTwereusedinthelinkingstudy,andeachisshowninthefigure.

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thelinkingstudyensured

thattheconstruct

equivalencerequiredfor

effectivelinkingwasmet

empirically;thelinkingstudyisdescribedbelowandinfulldetailin“TheEnhancedACTLinkingStudyReport.

”3

Toensurethatthischangedidnotaffecttheconstructsbeingmeasuredineachtestsection,weconducted

confirmatoryfactoranalysesusingvariousmodels.The

resultsoftheseanalyses

Form

Mean

Standard

Deviation

English

LegacyForm

20.68

6.31

EnhancedForm1

20.78

6.40

EnhancedForm2

20.76

6.44

Math

Reading

Science

LegacyForm

20.85

5.44

EnhancedForm1

20.84

5.60

EnhancedForm2

LegacyForm

20.93

22.44

5.57

6.59

EnhancedForm1

22.37

6.67

EnhancedForm2

LegacyForm

22.41

21.76

6.71

5.74

EnhancedForm1

21.79

5.73

EnhancedForm2

21.78

5.83

Table1.ScaleScoreDescriptiveStatistics

showedconsistencyintheconstructequivalenceofmeasurement,withfitindicesand

factorloadingsoftheenhancedACTformssimilartothoseofthelegacyACTform.Inotherwords,theanalysesshowedthatthelegacyandenhancedtestsectionsmeasurethesameunderlyingacademicskills.Asanticipated,reducingthenumberofquestionsdidleadtoasmalldecreaseinreliabilityandasmallincreaseinthestandarderrorofmeasurement.

However,thesechangeswereminorandwellwithinacceptableindustrystandards.In

particular,thereliabilityofeverysectiontestremainedwellover0.80.Thisresultindicatesthat,overall,thetestenhancementsdonotfundamentallychangetheaccuracyofthe

scores.

SectionscoresfromtheenhancedACTareinterchangeablewithsectionscoresfromthelegacyACT

AfterestablishingthatthelegacyandenhancedACTtestsweresufficientlysimilar,we

linkedtheenhancedtesttothelegacytestusingawell-establishedmethodologyknownasIRTtrue-scoreequating.Threesignificantfindingsemergedfromthispartofthestudy:

StatesandotherinstitutionswillnotneedtorevisithowtheyinterpretACTsection

scoresfordecision-makingandaccountability.

?Wecomparedthedifficultyofquestionsonthe

enhancedandlegacyformstoensurethattheenhancedformsmetthetestspecifications.Theanalysisconfirmedthattheenhancedformsdidmeettestspecificationsandthatslightdifferencesindifficultydidnotimpactthe

comparabilityofthescoresbetweentheforms.

3TheEnhancedACTLinkingStudyReport

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?Thelinkingresultsledtonearlyidenticalscoredistributionsofthelegacyandenhancedforms,meaningthatscoresrepresentthesamelevelofachievementbetweenthe

legacyandenhancedforms,asshowninTable1.

?Theresultsofpopulationinvarianceevaluationshowedconsistencybetweenlegacyandenhancedforms,indicatingthelinkingresultsarerobust.

Together,thesefindingsshowthattheenhancedACTmaintainsconsistentmeasurementpropertieswiththelegacyACT,andsectionscoresontheenhancedACTare

interchangeablewithsectionscoresonthelegacyACT,allowingfordirectcomparisonbetweenstudentscoresoneachofthetwoassessments.Therefore,statesandotherinstitutionswillnotneedtorevisithowtheyinterpretACTsectionscoresfordecision-makingandaccountability.

UnderstandingtheNewCompositeScoreCalculation

GivingstudentstheflexibilityofanoptionalsciencesectionrequiredustochangethewaywecalculatetheACTCompositescore.OnthelegacyACT,theCompositescoreisthe

roundedaverageofthestudent’sscoresontheEnglish,math,reading,andscience

sections(“EMRS”).OntheenhancedACT,theCompositescoreistheroundedaverageof

theEnglish,math,andreadingsectionscores(“EMR”).Thesciencesectionscoreandthe

STEMscore(averageofscienceandmathematicssectionscores)willcontinuetobe

reportedforstudentswhotakethesciencetest.WhilethesciencescorewillnolongerbeincludedintheCompositecalculation,itremainsavaluableindicatorofstudents’scientificreasoningskillsandpreparednessforSTEM-relatedfields,andorganizationsmaycontinuetoconsiderscienceandSTEMscoresforadmissionsandscholarshipdecisions.

LegacyCompositeScore(“EMRS”)NewCompositeScore(“EMR”)

English,math,andreadingtests

English,math,reading,andsciencetests

Table2.LegacyandNewCompositeScoreCalculations

BecausetheCompositescoreisameasureofgeneralacademicreadinessthatplaysavitalpartindecision-makingformanyinstitutions,itisimportanttounderstandthepropertiesofthenewEMRCompositescoreanditsrelationshiptothelegacyEMRSversion.Our

investigationintothesechangesissummarizedbelow.Fulldetailscanbefoundinthe

technicalreport:“InitialEvidenceSupportingInterpretationsofScoresfromtheEnhancedACTTest.

”4

OuranalysesdemonstratethattheCompositescoresfromtheenhancedACTcanbeusedinterchangeablywiththelegacyCompositescoresforthesamepurposes.In

4InitialEvidenceSupportingInterpretationsofScoresfromtheEnhancedACTTest

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addition,therearesomepracticaldifferencesbetweenthedistributionsofthetwoscoresthatinstitutionsshouldanticipate,whicharediscussedbelow.

LegacyACT

EnhancedACT

Composite

Composite

(EMRS)

(EMR)

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TheCompositeScoreCalculationsareInterchangeable

Ourresearchhasdeterminedthat,exceptforverylowCompositescores,theEMRSandEMRscoresconcordwitheachotherpointforpoint.Thatis,whenwe

establishedanequipercentilescoreconcordance

betweentheEMRandEMRSCompositescores,theclosestEMRscoretoanyEMRSscoreabove13isthesamescore.ThesameanalysisshowsthattheEMR

scoreisanear-perfectpredictoroftheEMRSscore,

withacorrelationof0.99.Forthisreason,no

conversionbetweenlegacyACTCompositescores

andenhancedACTCompositescoresisneeded,andwewillreportEMRS-andEMR-calculatedCompositescoresasinterchangeablewitheachother.Inall

officialscorereporting,astudentwillonlyreceiveoneCompositescore,andtherewillbenolabelindicatingwhetheritisEMRorEMRS.Stakeholderscan

determinetheCompositescoreversionbasedonthetestdate—onlineNationaltestadministrations

startinginApril2025andalltestadministrationsbeginninginSeptember2025willreportthenewEMRcompositescore

.

OuranalysesconfirmedtheappropriatenessofusingCompositescoresfordecision-makingbecausetheEMRandEMRSCompositescoreshavenearly

identicalpredictivepowerwhenitcomestostudentsuccessincollege.Infact,asshowninFigure2,thecorrelationsbetweenCompositescoreandcollegeoutcomes(first-yearGPA,likelihoodofearninga

Table3.ConcordancebetweenLegacyandEnhanced

CompositeScores5

bachelor’sdegree,andlikelihoodofearninganydegree)wereidenticalfortheEMRSscoreobtainedfromthelegacyACTandforEMRobtainedfromasimulatedenhancedACT.

(NotethatthesimulationaccountedfortheenhancedACT’sshortertestlength).

5NotethatconcordanceestimatesforEMRSscoresbelow14werenotobtainedbecausethecumulativefrequencyofscoreswaslessthan50inthatscorerange,resultinginunreliableestimates.

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.35.35

LegacyACTEMRS

SimulatedEnhancedACTEMR

.43.43

.40.40

First-YearEarnedEarnedAny

CollegeBachelor'sDegree

GPADegreeN=116,918

N=1,111,776N=116,918

Figure2.CorrelationsofEMRSandEMR

CompositeScoreswithFirst-YearCollegeGPAandDegreeAttainment

Similarly,Figure3shows

thattheEMRSandEMR

CompositescorescorrelatewithhighschoolGPAandtheACTRigorIndex,whichisameasurethatcanbe

usedtocomparestudents,courseperformancefairlyacrossdifferentcourseworktaken,atlevelsnearly

identicaltoeachother.

Therefore,wewillreporttheEMRandEMRSCompositescoresinterchangeably,andtheevidenceshould

encouragestakeholderstocontinuetousethe

Compositescoreasthey

haveinthepast.Inaddition,thecurrentACT-SAT

concordancecancontinuetobeused

.6

LegacyACTEMRS

EnhancedACTEMR

.56

.54

.48

.50

HighSchoolGPARigorIndex

Figure3.CorrelationsofEMRSandEMR

CompositeScoreswith

HighSchoolGPAandtheACTRigorIndex.7

PracticalImplicationsoftheNewCompositeScoreCalculation

AlthoughourresearchprovidesastrongbasisforusingtheEMRCompositescore

interchangeablywiththeEMRSCompositescore,therearesomepracticalconsiderationsthatstakeholdersshouldunderstand

.

First,therewillbeatransitionperiodinwhichsometest-takersreceiveanEMRCompositescore,andothersreceiveanEMRSCompositescore.Inthespringof2025,mostjuniorswill

6ACTrecommendsstakeholderscontinuetousetheACT/SATConcordancetoalign:

?ACTCompositescoreswithSATTotalscores

?ACTmathscoreswithSATmathscores

?ACTEnglish+readingscoreswithSATreading/writingscores

Whileformalprogressonupdatingtheconcordancehasnotyetbegun,ACTresearchersarepreparedto

collaboratewithCollegeBoardcounterpartswhenthetimingisappropriate,shoulditbedeterminedthatanupdateisnecessary.AreviewandupdateoftheconcordancebetweenACTandSATscoreswouldrequire

sufficientdatafromstudentswhohavetakenboththeenhancedACTandthedigitalSAT.

7Notethatthedifferencesdonotreachthestandardp<.05leveloftenusedasathresholdforstatisticalsignificance.

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receiveanEMRSCompositescore

,8

whereaswewill

beginreportingEMR

CompositescoresforallexamineesinSeptember

2025.Forthisreason,weanticipatethattheACT-testedgraduatingclassof

2025willnearlyuniversallyhaveEMRS-calculated

Compositescores,theACT-

GraduatingClass

Year

Projected

Percentageof

Graduateswith

EMRScore

Projected

Percentageof

Graduateswith

EMRSScore

2025

0.3%

99.7%

2026

33.5%

66.5%

2027

98.9%

1.1%

Table4.ProjectedShareofEMRandEMRSCompositeScoresbyGraduatingClassYear

testedgraduatingclassof2026willhaveamixofEMR-calculatedandEMRS-calculated

Compositescores,andtheACT-testedgraduatingclassof2027willnearlyuniversallyhaveEMR-calculatedscores.Projectionsbasedonhistoricalgraduatingclassdatausinga

student’slastACTscoreareprovidedinTable4.InstitutionsofhighereducationwilllikelyseeagreaterproportionofEMRscoresfortheclassof2026thanthoseprojectedhere

becausestudentswhoapplytocollegearemorelikelytotaketheACTmorethanonce,

makingtheirmostrecenttest(andalsoSuperscore

9)

likelytobethenewEMRCompositescore.

ThesecondpracticalconsiderationisthatweanticipateaslightincreaseinthenumberofstudentswhowillscoreatthebottomoftheCompositescoredistribution.Becauseofthis,weanticipatethataverageACTCompositescoreswilldeclinebyapproximately0.1to0.4

pointsformostpopulations,asshowninFigure4.Itisimportanttonotethatthe

anticipateddeclines,thoughrealinthesensethattheymayhaveactualconsequences,areofamagnitudethatiswellwithintherangeofnormalannualvariationoftheComposite

score.Further,ifallstudentstookthesciencetest,wewouldexpectmorethan90%tohaveanEMRCompositescorethatiswithinonepointofwhattheirEMRSCompositescore

wouldhavebeenifthelegacyCompositescorewerereported.

Outofadesiretofullysupportinstitutionsinorganizationalplanning,weareproviding

supplementalreportstohighereducationinstitutionsthatreceiveACTscoresthatwillhelpthemunderstandandplanforanyminorimpactsfromthechangeinCompositescore

calculation.Thereportsshowaprojectionofthenumberofstudentsatoraboveeachscore

8OnlyexamineeswhotaketheACTNational(Saturday)onlineteststartinginApril2025willreceivethenew

EMR-calculatedCompositescore.AllotherexamineesinSpring2025willtakethelegacyACTandwillreceiveanEMRS-calculatedComposite.

9TheACTSuperscorewillnolongerincludethesciencescoreafterthetransitiontothenewEMR-calculated

Compositescore.WhengeneratingtheACTSuperscorereport,wewilluseastudent'sbestscorefromeach

section,regardlessofwhichversionofthetestthatsectionscorecamefrom.Thereportwillstilldisplaythe

highestscienceandSTEMscoresifthestudenthastakenthesciencesection.Ifnot,thereportwillshow"-/-"forthatsection.

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pointforthenewEMRCompositescore

alongsidehistoricaldatashowingthelegacy

EMRSCompositescore.Thisinformationcanbeusedtoassesspotentialimpactstoexisting

programsbasedon

Compositescorecutoffs.

AdditionalResources

Tosupportstakeholders

withinformationabout

thetransitiontothe

enhancedACT,several

EMR21.4

22.621.3

EMRS

22.4

21.621.3

19.2

19.418.0

18.3

June2024

EnhancedACT

Spring2024SchoolDay

2024High

SchoolCohort

2022College

Enrollees

20224-YearCollege

Enrollees

Figure4.AverageACTCompositeScore,SelectedPopulations

resourcesareavailablethroughtheACTTestEnhancementssectionofACT.org.

?PracticeTests:Wehavereleasedtimedanduntimedpracticetestsalignedtothenewtestbluep