ACT Aspire, our next generation assessment system spanning early elementary grades through high school, will debut in 2014.

Anchored by the ACT Test, ACT Aspire will be the first digital, longitudinal assessment system to fully connect student performance from elementary grades through high school. The goal of the system will be to provide educators, parents, and students with the insights they need to get and keep students on track for college and career readiness starting early in their academic career by better connecting assessment, teaching, and learning. ACT Aspire will be linked to ACT College Readiness Standards and Benchmarks.

The system will address the gap between the skills students are learning in school and the skills they will need to succeed in college and careers in the increasingly competitive global economy. ACT research indicates that assessment and intervention provided earlier in students’ academic careers improve their chances of succeeding in school and reaching their college and career goals.

“Periodic assessment of what students have learned, starting early in their academic career, will help students, their parents, and educators know what steps they must take to stay on the right path,” said ACT CEO Jon Whitmore.

ACT Aspire will be aligned with the Common Core State Standards in English language arts and mathematics, but will also go beyond the Common Core Standards, providing information on science achievement, career indicators, and student behaviors and goals.

“ACT Aspire builds upon and extends ACT’s core mission, serving as a natural progression from our established education and workforce assessment programs including the ACT and ACT WorkKeys,” said Jon Erickson, ACT education president.

ACT is partnering on this initiative with Pearson, the global leader in education technology and publishing, to offer the latest technological capabilities and features, delivered digitally to millions of students across the United States. The new system will leverage ACT’s more than 50 years of experience in educational assessment and research and more than 20 years of experience in workforce assessment and solutions.