Indiana High School Collaborates With ACT on Innovative Research Project

What started as an Indiana principal sharing his high school’s data with ACT has led to a new approach in education.

Students at a high school in Crown Point, Indiana, learn twenty-first century skills so they can compete in a global marketplace.

Crown Point High School (CPHS) in Crown Point, Indiana, has become the first ACT college acceleration research high school in the country. This suburban public school, which enrolls 2,600 students and is located approximately 40 miles from downtown Chicago, is using ACT solutions in innovative ways to prepare students for postsecondary and workplace success.

ACT is providing Crown Point with several of its solutions, including EXPLORE^®, PLAN^®, the ACT^®, QualityCore^® end-of-course assessments, ENGAGE™, and Behavioral Monitoring Scales. In return, Crown Point is providing students’ results to ACT for use in research studies geared at identifying the most effective ways of using assessment information to inform instruction and increase achievement.

“Through our collaboration with faculty and administration at Crown Point, we are developing and promoting best practices in advancing college and career readiness,” said Paul Weeks, vice president, ACT Educational Services. “The research school concept offers an innovative approach to helping schools better prepare students for life after high school.”

The partnership started when CPHS Principal Eric Ban shared with ACT staff an analysis he and his staff completed of their students’ EXPLORE and PLAN results.

“We looked at how students’ ACT data linked to our classroom practices, teacher instruction, and academic programming, as part of our efforts toward measuring student growth. We linked test questions to standards and skills and worked on ways students could demonstrate they are ready for college and careers,” said Ban. “We wanted to better understand how we could view students’ data to help us respond more effectively.”

The feedback ACT staff provided on the analysis led to the research school partnership with CPHS starting in the 2010–11 academic year. Since then, the project has expanded to include students in grades six through nine in Crown Point.

Crown Point High School is using several ACT solutions to track student progress. In return, the school is providing student data to ACT for research purposes.

In addition to providing assessments, ACT is also facilitating QualityCore professional development workshops for teachers and leading sessions on ways administrators and teachers can use student data to close achievement gaps, increase graduation and college enrollment rates, and improve postsecondary and workplace readiness.

The research school project builds on work that CPHS began three years ago when Ban became the school’s principal.

“We set out to build a new American research high school dedicated to college and workforce readiness,” said Ban. “All schools must embrace teaching students twenty-first century skills in order to equip them with the best competitive edge in the new global economy.”

As ACT’s first ACT college acceleration research high school in the country, Crown Point High School focuses on preparing students for college and careers.

A research high school is similar to a research hospital, in that new practices are expected and tested. “We are committed to consistently asking questions, testing ideas, and trying new things to get better results for our students.”

Ban and his staff created the “Systems of Innovation,” which addresses freshman transition, twenty-first century learning, and college and career programming. They use students’ results from ACT solutions to measure college and career readiness and determine placement in related programs.

Through partnerships with community and technical colleges and state universities, CPHS offers access to rigorous postsecondary courses to students meeting qualifications. The school’s academic programs are articulated to certification and degree programs with participating university partners.

In the 2010–11 school year, CPHS students earned 5,000 college credits through Indiana University Northwest, Purdue University Calumet, and Ivy Tech Community College. About 70 percent of students graduated that year with at least three college credits.

Advisors also help guide students with college and career planning in their chosen fields. Students can participate in internships, capstone experiences, and job training opportunities, and are required to complete 40 hours of community service.

Ban expects the new research work with ACT to further enhance the momentum he and his staff have already initiated.

“We look forward to utilizing the full suite of information and resources that ACT provides and integrating it for the benefit of teachers, students, and parents.”