Careers at ACT: Freelance Content Development Opportunities
Work with ACT
ACT is looking for educators at the elementary, secondary, and college levels to develop or review test questions for education-focused assessments. Knowledge of specific domains and direct teaching experience are preferred. ACT is also looking to work with individuals who have subject-matter expertise to develop or review questions for workplace assessments, especially in the fields of healthcare, manufacturing, automotive, IT, financial services, energy, and other high-tech occupations.
Item Writers & Content Reviewers for Assessments
Education & Workforce
ACT item writers and reviewers are educators and practitioners from across the United States. For educational assessments, they ensure that our English, Reading, Math, and Science Tests represent what is taught in classrooms nationwide and reflect a balance in gender, race/ethnicity, and geographical representation. For workforce assessments, they have real-world work experience, especially in healthcare, manufacturing, IT, and green jobs. They develop questions that require individuals to read and interpret information, perform applied math, and locate information in tables and graphs. Their experience helps us create realistic test questions.
Fairness Consultants
When selecting fairness consultants, ACT looks for reviewers sensitive to and knowledgeable about diversity and inclusion. Reviewers must effectively apply those skills in evaluating the fairness of standardized test materials administered at the national and state levels.
ACT's goal in selecting fairness consultants is to find reviewers who are sensitive to and knowledgeable about the issues of diversity and inclusion, and who can effectively apply those skills in evaluating the fairness of materials for standardized tests.
ACT's pool of fairness consultants is diverse in terms of the consultants' race/ethnicity, gender, and geographic background. Experience working with populations of color, populations with disabilities, and/or ESL (English as a second language) populations is deemed highly desirable.
Current teachers at the secondary and postsecondary levels who are African American, Asian American, Pacific Islander, American Indian, Alaskan Native, or Latino/a can apply to be considered as fairness consultants for the ACT® program.
Additional information specific to Content and Fairness Consulting for English and Reading.
Content Development and Delivery
Content development and delivery experts are educators and practitioners from across the United States. They develop and deliver professional learning services around ACT core products (ACT, PreACT, Mosaic by ACT, and WorkKeys) with an additional focus on English, math, science, and social emotional learning. They have experience in development and/or delivery of professional learning services.
Complete the Consultant Questionnaire
The first step is to fill out a Consultant Questionnaire, which asks about your background, experience, and areas of specialization, and then upload a copy of your resume with your submission.
When you complete the online questionnaire, you will be given the opportunity to select one or more of four different categories of work with ACT. Select all that apply to you.
- Check if interested in item writing work.
- Check if interested in content consulting work.
- Check if interested in fairness consulting work.
- Check if interested in working on professional learning services.
Shortly after receiving your completed questionnaire, we will send you an acknowledgment of your submission.
About our Products and Services
- The ACT® test, typically administered to college-bound eleventh and twelfth graders, is based on and oriented toward the major areas of secondary and postsecondary instructional programs. Learn more about the ACT test.
- PreACT® offers 8th-10th graders an early experience with ACT test items, and provides insights regarding a predicted ACT test score. Learn more about PreACT .
- The ACT Aspire Assessment System® is a vertically scaled, standards-based system of assessments that monitors student growth and progress toward college readiness. Learn more about the ACT Aspire Assessment System.
- ACT WorkKeys® assessments are the cornerstone of ACT workforce solutions. The assessments measure foundational skills required for success in the workplace. Learn more about ACT WorkKeys.
- Mosaic by ACT® is a comprehensive learning solution featuring an adaptive academic learning platform, robust SEL resources, and learning and professional services for districts and schools.
ACT's Commitment to Fairness
It is ACT's goal to accurately assess what students can do with what they know in the content areas covered by ACT's resident testing programs and the numerous K–12 state assessment programs for which ACT develops tests.
If factors other than academic skills and knowledge in these content areas were allowed to intrude, ACT would provide a less accurate picture of what students know and can do and would risk subjecting students to situations in which their performance might be adversely affected by unfair test materials. ACT is therefore committed to fairness both in principle and in the interest of accuracy in all its tests.
ACT endorses the Code of Fair Testing Practices in Education (1988) and the obligations to test takers it imposes on those who develop, administer, and use educational tests and data.
At ACT, the work of ensuring test fairness starts with the design of the test specifications and then continues through every stage of the test development process, including item (question) writing and review, item pretesting, item selection and forms construction, and forms review. ACT makes every effort to see that all the tests are fair to the populations for whom the tests are intended.