As part of the standard registration fee for the ACT, students can list on the registration form up to four colleges or scholarship agencies to which their scores will be sent. Between 2005 and 2014, the number of students who did not send their test scores to any college or scholarship agency when they registered for the ACT increased by 162%, a rate that has outpaced the growth in the number of ACT-tested students over that time. In 2005, roughly three out of 10 ACT-tested students withheld their test scores on a least one test date (see Figure 5). By 2014, nearly half of all ACT-tested high school graduates withheld their test scores on at least one test date. This upward trend in the number and share of students who choose not to send their ACT scores at time of registration cannot be explained by the adoption of statewide testing in the nine new states. Indeed, this upward trend is even more pronounced across states that have not adopted the ACT statewide. In fact, this phenomenon is occurring in every region of the country and across all student achievement levels.

Although more students overall are withholding their ACT scores at time of registration, the rate at which students withhold their test scores differs considerably by the ACT participation rate of their state. Figure 6 shows this relationship for the ACT-tested high school graduating class of 2014. As seen in the figure, states with lower ACT participation rates (horizontal axis) tend to have a larger percentage of students who withhold their test scores at time of registration (vertical axis), whereas states with higher ACT participation rates tend to have a smaller percentage of students withhold their test scores. States in the Northeast are clustered in the upper-left area of the figure, having both lower participation rates and higher rates of withholding test scores. Many states in the Midwest and South are clustered in the lower-right area of the figure, having both higher ACT participation rates and lower test score withholding rates.

Note: The trend line in Figure 6 shows a negative relationship. A correlation of –0.72 (out of a range of –1 to 1) suggests that the strength of the negative relationship between the ACT participation rate and the test score withholding rate is large in magnitude.

The rate at which students withhold their ACT scores also differs by students’ achievement levels, educational aspirations, and background characteristics (see Table 2). Specifically, students who withhold their test scores on at least one test date are more likely to be higher achieving and have higher degree aspirations, come from families with more highly educated parents and higher incomes, live within large urban or suburban areas, and be Asian or prefer not to report their race.

Table 2. Who Withholds Test Scores at Time of Registration?