ACT Aspire Fall Testing Options for the New School Year
Filling the Gap and Setting a Baseline for 2020-2021
Following the interruption of schooling due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the ACT® Aspire® Summative Assessments were cancelled for spring 2020. Going into the 2020-2021 academic year, standard-based measures of student achievement are needed more than ever. Because learning gains (or losses) during the shutdown period are expected to vary considerably student-to-student, measures of student achievement are particularly important heading into 2020-2021. Fall test scores reflect the net impact of learning that occurred through 2019-2020, summer learning loss and additional loss caused by the school shutdowns, and any positive effects of shutdown mitigation efforts (such as online learning or starting school early in the fall).
Assuming that schooling resumes in fall 2020, schools that normally test students in the fall are not impacted and can maintain their assessment schedules. Schools that normally test students in the spring have different options for assessing students upon their return. Below are three options to use the ACT® Aspire® Assessment System® in the fall of 2020 for schools to help students succeed, and help educators get the data needed to understand students' learning needs.
On-Demand Webinar - ACT Aspire: Filling the Gap and Setting a Baseline for 2020-2021
In this free, on-demand webinar, ACT experts explain the three ACT Aspire testing options for fall of 2020.

Aspire Fall 2020 Comparison Options Chart
Features and Benefits |
Fall 2020 Testing Options |
||
---|---|---|---|
Option 1 | Option 2 | Option 3 | |
Assessment type | Summative | Summative |
Interim |
Assess at spring 2020 or fall 2020 grade level? | Spring 2020 | Fall 2020 | Either or both |
Provide baseline data to determine students’ needs | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Keep longitudinal score history intact | ✔ | ||
Report ACT, PreACT, and NCRC predictions | ✔ | ✔ | |
Monitor system performance year-to-year | ✔ | ✔ | |
Maintain growth measures, use Student Growth Percentiles | ✔ | ✔ | |
Early testing window → early access to baseline data/data to fill gaps | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
One-day turnaround for reporting |
✔ | ||
Use with spring 2021 Summative testing |
✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Use with Option 3 or as stand-alone option |
✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
At-home Testing | ✔ |
Secondary option to Option 1 |
Getting Started with ACT Aspire
We encourage you to learn more about the value of delivering ACT Aspire assessments by completing our information request form. Upon completing the request, an ACT representative will reach out to you to discuss the program.