ACT Research

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Research in the News

Find out more about ACT research and how it is connecting assessment and learning to College and Career readiness.

ACT Wraps Up Successful FY25 State Organizations Regional Summit Circuit; New Professional Learning Community Coming Soon

ACT
 May 16, 2025
No Categories

Educators and workforce leaders across the country turned out in force for ACT’s FY2025 Regional Summits, and they made one thing clear: professional development is at the top of their list.That’s why ACT is evolving; in the coming weeks, the State Organizations network will become the ACT Professional Learning Community. The PL

ACT Celebrates Global Accessibility Awareness Day

ACT
 May 15, 2025
Categories: Accessibility, ACT Center for Impact and Learning, ACT Test
This year’s Global Accessibility Awareness Day, celebrated on May 15, 2025, highlights the experiences of more than 1.3 billion people worldwide - including one in six students - living with a disability. Despite its size and growing recognition, this community still faces a gap between the need for accessibility and the availab

ACT Recognizes Some of the Nation’s Brightest Students with the PreACT Rising Stars Program

ACT
 May 14, 2025
Categories: PreACT, Press Release
Program honors 7th-9th graders who reach top scores on the preparatory examFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 14, 2025 [IOWA CITY, IA] – More than 100,000 7th-9th grade students from across the country have earned national recognition for their achievements on the PreACT 8/9. The PreACT Rising Stars program, in its inaugural year, honors

Research Publications

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In addition to publishing high-quality, research-based insights, ACT Research offers a suite of services designed to provide educators and workforce development professionals with tools, data, and services needed to make strategic education and career planning, assessment, and learning decisions.

Our Featured Experts

Alex Casillas

Alex Casillas is a Principal Research Psychologist in ACT’s Center for Social, Emotional, and Academic Learning specializing in assessment design, behavioral predictors of performance and persistence in education and work settings, and implementation of SEL programming. His research increasingly focuses on helping historically underrepresented populations achieve more equitable outcomes in education and at work.

Chi-Yu Huang

Chi-Yu Huang is a lead psychometrician in Applied Research at ACT, Inc. She has extensive experience in operational psychometric procedures for licensure and certification examinations, computerized-based testing, and data forensics analyses.

Xin Li

Xin Li is a lead psychometrician in Research and Psychometrics. Her research interests include computer adaptive testing, statistical modeling, and practical issues in testing.

Patricia Muenzen

Patricia (Pat) Muenzen is a Director with the Credentialing and Career Services team. She conducts research to support professional workforce career development, professional licensure and certification programs, and has special expertise in practice analysis and competency profile development. 

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