Counselor Newsletter

ACT Chief Executive Officer Marten Roorda, looks back to ACT’s founding by E.F. Lindquist, who revolutionized standardized testing and learning expectations in American education. Lindquist’s focus on assessing what students learn in the classroom continues to guide ACT’s mission, as does his vision of merging assessment with learning.  

“At ACT, we have always believed assessment and achievement are two sides of the same coin, and that students learn best when they are given a real opportunity to master a rigorous curriculum, and then invest the effort needed to master the material,” Roorda says. “Similarly, when our cofounder and continuing inspiration, E.F. Lindquist, encountered a challenge, he charged ahead, knowing that the limits to achievement are generally not imposed by our abilities, but instead by our effort and imaginations.” 

ACT Chief Commercial Officer Suzana Delanghe says the weight of ACT’s mission is made lighter with the help of allies and advocates like you, who guide our growth and inspire us to reach an even greater number of learners.  

“Your support over six decades has inspired, informed, and immeasurably advanced college and career readiness from 1959 to today,” Delanghe says. “We exist to serve you, and we are excited to stand beside you for many more years, solving the educational problems of today and tomorrow.” 

We asked our advocates to explore what education and workplace success means to them, and how we can continue to work together to advance equity in education. Here’s what they said: 

• “The courage to be imperfect builds rapport between employees, students, and team members because everyone realizes, nobody is perfect, even in the workplace/classroom.” 
• “Advancing equity in education will require change on the systemic level; therefore, we need to incorporate multiculturalism and social justice into education.” 
• “Diversifying the workforce is central to educational and workplace success.” 
• “Inequities are often times part of the fabric of the student—our job is to neutralize those in the classroom experience by providing a quality educational experience for all students AND attend to some of the factors that directly impact student success.” 
  

Improving learner outcomes often involves determining whether learning tools are effective—in terms of content and the way they are delivered to the learner. Krista Mattern, ACT’s Senior Director of Validity and Efficacy Research and the mother of two grade school-age boys, writes about the need for a framework to evaluate the impact of learning tools.  

“A lack of efficacy evidence may indicate that the product has poor learning content, lacks high-quality instructional design, or it may indicate that the product’s user interface is difficult to navigate," Mattern says. “Knowing not only if but why the product is not achieving the desired outcome is necessary evidence to drive product improvements and enhancements, as well as inform best practices around product usage.”  

Mattern’s blog links to her full report that highlights ACT’s Efficacy Framework, a blueprint that evaluates not only if, but why a learning product works, allowing measurement and learning to work together.