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Why Use ACT's Professional Credentialing Services?

ACT has both the expertise and the flexibility to meet our clients' objectives and to provide exceptional support for their testing programs. Here are some highlights of our capabilities.

A Half-Century of Large Project Management

ACT has been at the forefront of large-scale testing for 50 years. We are experts in the management of high-volume assessment programs. Our project managers routinely orchestrate a host of complex operations before each test administration to ensure the accurate and timely delivery of testing services. Every year, we perform the following activities:

  • Processing more than 2 million test registration forms and scanning more than 5 million answer documents
  • Responding to more than 2 million telephone inquiries from our users and customers
  • Developing instruction and training materials for nearly 60,000 test administration personnel in more than 8,000 test centers worldwide
  • Preparing and distributing millions of test result reports to individuals, institutions, and agencies
  • Providing administrative support to scholarship sponsoring organizations that annually award $25 million to some 10,000 students
  • Maintaining 50 million test records, about 5 million of which are available online

A Pioneer in Electronic Test Publication and Delivery

The promise of computer-based testing came to ACT's attention long before it first emerged as a widely accepted approach to assessing individual knowledge and skills. ACT now delivers hundreds of thousands of electronic high-stakes tests over the Internet. Validus®, our proprietary Web-based test delivery system, is designed to establish a highly secure and dependable method of publishing, delivering, and servicing tests via Internet applications.

ACT delivers computer-based testing and training services to individuals, employers, and professional organizations. Locations in every state provide a nationwide network of computer-based testing facilities.

A History of Secure High-Stakes Testing

The integrity of any testing program relies on security measures that protect test materials and prevent testing irregularities, such as theft or cheating. ACT is widely recognized for its emphasis on test security. ACT uses multiple measures to maintain the security of test content and materials. Reactive measures are designed to detect and investigate security problems. Proactive measures are aimed at keeping such problems from occurring.

Strict security procedures govern each phase of program development and administration. For contract programs, ACT works closely with its clients to institute and revise procedures that meet their internal requirements and objectives. ACT also gives high priority to training test center staff to observe and enforce security requirements.

A Reputation for Legally Defensible Tests

ACT has developed, instituted, and refined a set of internal procedures that are consistent with the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (American Psychological Association, American Educational Research Association, National Council on Measurement in Education, 1999). Years of experience give ACT an acute awareness of the issues surrounding high-stakes testing programs. We stand firmly behind our work and the services we provide in support of them.

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