[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-529254-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":80,"doc-detail-529254-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":73,"head_meta":75,"extra_data":77,"updated_unix":79},105,"en","why-scores-on-the-act-are-scores-you-can-trust","Why Scores on the ACT Are Scores You Can Trust","","Explains how ACT score scales enable students, educators, colleges, and scholarship agencies to interpret test results in meaningful ways. Describes the 1–36 scales for English, reading, and science, their establishment and psychometric adjustments, and evidence of stability and validity across forms and years. Shows how stable scales support the ACT College and Career Readiness Standards and Benchmarks, while instability or test recentering can disrupt fair comparisons over time.",{"@graph":14,"@context":72},[15,34,55],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/exam/","Exam",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/why-scores-on-the-act-are-scores-you-can-trust/529254/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/why-scores-on-the-act-are-scores-you-can-trust/529254.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Ben ","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-11","2026-10-09",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":26},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",{"@type":56,"mainEntity":57},"FAQPage",[58,64,68],{"name":59,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":61},"What is the purpose of ACT score scales?","Question",{"text":62,"@type":63},"Score scales provide the basis for reporting and interpreting student and group scores, so stakeholders can understand what the scores mean for student achievement.","Answer",{"name":65,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":66},"How do stable ACT score scales support readiness indicators?",{"text":67,"@type":63},"Stability allows ACT to develop the ACT College and Career Readiness Standards (CCRS) and identify benchmarks linked to the likelihood of earning grades in college courses.",{"name":69,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":70},"Why can changes to a test make scores harder to compare over time?",{"text":71,"@type":63},"When test constructs or content change significantly, score scales may require recentering or rescaling, which prevents direct comparisons across years and may require complex conversions.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":74,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":76,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":78,"site_id":7},529254,1791688366,{"code":4,"msg":81,"data":82},"success",[83,87,91,94,99,104,109,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":84,"show_sort_weight":85,"slug":86},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":88,"show_sort_weight":89,"slug":90},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":92,"slug":93},70,"exam",{"id":95,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":96,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":98},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":100,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":101,"show_sort_weight":102,"slug":103},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":105,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":106,"show_sort_weight":107,"slug":108},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":110,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":111,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":95,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":81,"data":131},{"doc_id":78,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":33,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":26,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":33,"language":139,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":143,"read_time":123},2336478951081,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c","Why Scores on the ACT ® Test Are Scores You Can Trust  \nWayne Camara, Senior Vice President, Research  \nDeborah Harris, Chief Research Scientist  \nScore scales are what we use to report test scores earned by individual students as well as groups of students. The score scale is also what allows students, educators, colleges, and scholarship agencies to interpret and make informed use of test scores. When a new test is introduced, it can take years for users to develop a deep knowledge and understanding of what the scores mean in terms of student achievement—what a student with a given score can and cannot do. And if the score scale is unstable, users may never be able to understand what scores mean.  \nThe current ACT 1 to 36 score scales for English, reading, and science were established in 1988 and implemented in 1989 with the introduction of the revised ACT® test. Over 100,000 high school students were tested to provide a nationally representative sample to conduct the scaling. Allowing students to use calculators in 1996 had a psychometric impact on the scores, requiring math test scores to be rescaled at that time. Various stability and validity studies conducted by ACT over the years have shown the scales to be consistent over forms and over years in terms of both the meanings of the reported scores and in their ability to predict meaningful outcomes, such as college course grades.  \n[www.act.org](www.act.org)  \n© 2015 by ACT, Inc. ACT® is a registered trademark of ACT, Inc., in the USA and other countries. 3754  \nWHY SCORES ON THE ACT ARE SCORES YOU CAN TRUST  \nBecause of the consistency of ACT score scales, we have been able to develop the ACT College and Career Readiness Standards (CCRS), which are empirically derived descriptions of the essential skills and knowledge students must possess to become ready for college and career. The CCRS give clear meaning to test scores by providing the knowledge and skills students scoring in particular score ranges are likely to possess, and they serve as a link between what students have learned and what they are ready to learn next.  \nThe stability of the score scales has also allowed ACT to identify the ACT College Readiness Benchmarks—scores on the ACT subject tests that represent the level of achievement required for students to have a 50% chance of obtaining a B or higher or about a 75% chance of obtaining a C or higher in corresponding credit-bearing first-year college courses.  \nThese uses of score scales allow students to interpret what their scores mean in a meaningful context—what a 23 indicates about the knowledge and skills a student can demonstrate, and whether the student is likely to succeed in postsecondary coursework.  \nChanges are integral to the relevance of the ACT—tweaks primarily based on results from comprehensive curriculum surveys of educators from elementary schools through college. These changes are made incrementally and thoughtfully, allowing the interpretation of the scores scales to remain consistent and letting policymakers and educators compare the performance of groups of students (for example, freshman classes, graduating high school students, and states) across years. Comparing group performance trends is essential to monitoring changes in the college and career readiness of students over multiple years and is only possible when the constructs and content measured by a test remain fundamentally similar from year to year, as they are with the ACT. When significant changes are introduced to a test, such trends cannot be maintained, and the scores cannot be fairly compared across years.  \nThe two best examples of such breaks in trends can be traced to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and the SAT. For example, NAEP notes: “Although long-term trend and main NAEP both assess mathematics and reading, there are several differences, particularly in the content assessed, how often the assessment is administered, and how the results are","cbCaikCbV9ViX57X","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaikCbV9ViX57X","pdf",171097,"English","# Why ACT score scales are trustworthy\n## How score scales are used\n## Stability, validity, and interpretation\n## Readiness standards and benchmarks\n## Comparing trends and handling disruptions\n## Examples: NAEP and SAT recentering","[{\"question\":\"What is the purpose of ACT score scales?\",\"answer\":\"Score scales provide the basis for reporting and interpreting student and group scores, so stakeholders can understand what the scores mean for student achievement.\"},{\"question\":\"How do stable ACT score scales support readiness indicators?\",\"answer\":\"Stability allows ACT to develop the ACT College and Career Readiness Standards (CCRS) and identify benchmarks linked to the likelihood of earning grades in college courses.\"},{\"question\":\"Why can changes to a test make scores harder to compare over time?\",\"answer\":\"When test constructs or content change significantly, score scales may require recentering or rescaling, which prevents direct comparisons across years and may require complex conversions.\"}]","Why Scores on the ACT Are Scores You Can Trust | PDF",1791520798]