In response to a call for research on using the SATs and ACTs for U.S.-based college and university admissions, researchers systematically interrogated the literature surrounding both tests, using a framework for validity evidence built upon the "Standards of Educational and Psychological Testing" and Kane's contemporary view of…

We analyze admissions and transcript records for students at multiple Ivy-Plus colleges to study the relationship between standardized (SAT/ACT) test scores, high school GPA, and first-year college grades. Standardized test scores predict academic outcomes with a normalized slope four times greater than that from high school GPA, all conditional…

This report describes the process of developing and validating the enhanced ACT. The report describes the changes made to the test content and the processes by which these design decisions were implemented. The authors describe how they shared the overall scope of the enhancements, including the initial blueprints, with external expert panels,…

Starting in April 2025, ACT will introduce enhanced forms of the ACT® test for national online testing, with a full rollout to all paper and online test takers in national, state and district, and international test administrations by Spring 2026. ACT introduced major updates by changing the test lengths and testing times, providing more time per…

This report summarizes some of the evidence supporting interpretations of scores from the enhanced ACT, focusing on reliability, concurrent validity, predictive validity, and score comparability. The authors argue that the evidence presented in this report supports the interpretation of scores from the enhanced ACT as measures of high school…

The worldwide consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic affected virtually every domain of human life. The pandemic's impact on the education and development of children and adolescents was particularly severe given the closure of schools, shifts to online learning, and cancelation of college entrance exam administrations early in the pandemic. These…