Why EXPLORE Testing 2012 Prepared by Mike Clines

1.  ACT's Educational Planning and Assessment
System - College and Career Readiness
System
 Adopted by Diocesan Department of Catholic
Schools in May of 2011
 EXPLORE – Entry point of EPAS
 PLAN (10th grade) – Precursor to the ACT
 ACT – Predictor of success at entry level
college coursework

2. College and Career Readiness
System
Longitudinal Assessments
8th–9th Grade 10th Grade 11th–12th Grade
Score Scale: 1-25 Score Scale: 1-32 Score Scale: 1-36
English, math, reading, science, with Career and Educational Components
ACT EPAS
Educational Planning and Assessment System
They are achievement tests – tests of acquired or
developed abilities. They are not going to tell you how
smart – tells you the level of achievement.

3. 36
32
25
ACT’s College and Career Readiness System

4. • EXPLORE shows students’ strengths and growth
areas in English, mathematics, reading, and science.
• EXPLORE helps students search for careers and
learn which ones might be right
for them.
• EXPLORE helps students choose high school
courses that will prepare them for college and work.
• EXPLORE lets students know if they are on track for
college
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5. *The ACT Benchmark Score indicates a 50% chance of obtaining a “B” or a
75% chance of obtaining a “C” in corresponding credit-bearing college courses.

6.  Students should know the test structure
 Reading is essential to success on all parts
of the test
 It is a timed test. Students may not have
taken timed tests – especially with this
much content
 The test is designed to have unanswerable
questions
 All questions are worth the same number of
points

7.  The test does not progress from easy to hard
in terms of subject matter
 Students can miss half the questions on the
tests and still score right at the benchmark in
most areas. Ex. To score a 20 on the ACT, a
student only has to answer 53% of the
questions correctly.

8.  Lots of items; not a lot of time
So… work efficiently
 Can miss quite a few; still get a good
score
So… don’t compare right/wrong ratio to other
tests
 Every question within a section has the
same value
So… don’t puzzle over time-consuming
questions
 Some of the items may be really difficult
So… accept that you may be stumped. Guess!
 Difficulty levels are mixed together

9. www.explorestudent.org
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