In recent years there has been an increasing focus among states on the importance of preparing all students for college and work. Statewide administration of the ACT provides all students, including those who have never considered college as an option, with the opportunity to identify academic strengths and weaknesses, explore educational and career interests, set high standards for academic achievement, and prepare to meet their educational and career goals. Five states--Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, and Wyoming--currently administer the ACT to all their public high school students. This case study focuses on results from Colorado and Illinois, where statewide administration has been in place the longest (since 2001). Colorado uses the ACT in the Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP) as an eleventh-grade achievement-based assessment that gives the state an indication of how well its public schools are performing at educating students at the K-12 level. Illinois also administers the ACT to all of its public high school juniors as part of its Prairie State Achievement Exam (PSAE). Illinois uses the ACT to measure student progress on meeting state learning standards. (Contains 1 footnote, 9 tables, and 5 figures.)