Is it just me, or is the mandatory ACT super shady?

TL;DR - I'm pretty sure ACT, Inc. is fucking the education system in the name of 'what's good for students.'

The ACT is a good test. Let me start by getting that off the table.

Next, let me say what I won’t be talking about. I won’t be talking about the perils of standardized testing. I won’t say how standardized tests aren’t good for students, and how state-mandated testing--while an easy ‘sell’ to voters--ultimately serves to punish poor schools while rewarding rich ones. That has been well-documented elsewhere.

What I want to talk about, instead, in the incredible coup that ACT pulls off every time it convinces a state to adopt the ACT as a statewide assessment.

Let me clarify...

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When I was sixteen I took the ACT. Everyone who intended to enter a four-year university did. I took a look at the testing schedule, and signed up for the June date. Why June? Because come June I would have another whole year of learning under my belt. My friend Kevin looked at the same schedule and signed up for three of the dates. I was embarrassed for him.

“You only need to take it once, Kevin,” I said. “Hmm,” he said, shrugging. He then submitted his paperwork.

Kevin--as usual--knew something I didn’t.

At the time, very few students took the ACT multiple times. Kevin was a trendsetter. What was rare in my generation has become the norm. A poll of my college-prep English class today revealed that one hundred percent (100%) of them plan on taking multiple ACTs.

The ACT is a big deal. From their perspective, this makes sense. Admission into elite schools is stupid competitive. Tuition climbs steeply each year, and every composite point is a valuable bargaining chip.

In case our education system is not churning out sufficiently adept thinkers to realize it on their own, a massive (fucking huge) test-prep industry shouts the unbelievable, life-changing vitalness of this test from every soapbox it can find. Parents pay through the nose for private tutors; districts host opt-in and mandatory ACT prep; Students tie themselves in knots rifling through practice test after practice test.

Through all of this, the number one piece of test-success advice given by companies, parents, tutors, and the industry? You should take the ACT at least twice. ACT, Inc. even includes the advice in the score reports of test-takers.

But here’s the thing: This isn’t that big of a deal. It isn’t shady, or suspect. It’s just human beings and companies responding to incentives of a system. In a system in which ACT composite points have outsized value, people will pay outsized sums to acquire them.

ACT, Inc. is a bit shady. With that said, I think that ACT, Inc. is a bit shady. What’s more is that after a few days of research, I think I might be the only one who is saying so.

The facts:

• ACT, Inc. is a non-profit organization
• Since 2005, its income has significantly outpaced its expenses
• ACT, Inc. has thrown money at its CEO ($750k/year)
• It pays ~$40k/year for each member of its board (rare in a non-profit)
• What is left, it plows into ‘Assets’. As of their 2015 Tax filing, they have just over $500m

What these assets includes is a bit hard to untangle. It accounts for land, buildings, equipment, and program-related investments. The vast (vast!) majority of ACT, Inc.’s assets, though, (~$275m) are in “publicly traded securities.” In short: ACT, Inc. plows its excess revenue into the stock market.

It isn’t uncommon for a non-profit to do this. It’s a line that many non-profits with revenue-generating businesses walk (hospitals are noteworthy). It poses ethical and moral questions, but the IRS draws the line at “the point at which the business activities of the for-profit subsidiary essentially become the key aspect of the nonprofit parent's operations.”

To say it simply: ACT, Inc. stops being non-profit when the business of growing the ACT surpasses ACT’s stated mission: helping people achieve workplace success.

So...has it? This is obviously the big question. A lot of money can be made in the name of helping people achieve success. So what are the facts?

ACT, Inc. has lobbied state governments to make the ACT a statewide assessment 20 states have done so, requiring 100 percent of students to take the exam (funded by taxpayer) Along with this has come a whole suite of exams: ACT Aspire, ACT WorkKeys and more. The total revenue from ACT contracts with states and districts is $100m annually The number of students taking the ACT has risen for twelve straight years. As of 2015, only 70 percent of students who took this college-readiness test actually enrolled (as states continue to make the test mandatory, expect this to drop)

These numbers, though, only begin to hint at the structural shadiness of ACT, Inc. While ACT touts mandatory testing as ‘enhancing student opportunities’, the reality is that the ACT is not a useful exam for a growing number of students who are being forced to take it. Furthermore, this mandatory testing is done at a tremendous expense to state and local taxpayers.

Two scenarios:

2007

• 40 percent of students took the ACT (those who wish to attend a 4-year university)
• Paid for by students
• Given at regional testing centers
• Checked in by an ACT, Inc. employee
• Directed to a room where another ACT, Inc. employee would proctor the exam |

2017

• 100 percent of students take the ACT, regardless of what their post-secondary plans are
• Paid for by state, including mandatory (and not widely used by schools) writing portion
• Given at student high schools, with many schools hiring an administrator to solely oversee the process
• Handling of materials, security, and logistics are the responsibility of the school district
• Classes interrupted for two school days as tests proctored by school district employees (almost all teachers)
• ACT WorkKeys lumped in, and all students required to sit for a second day

This is done--like all education initiatives--in the name of students.

I might be cynical, but it seems to me that ACT, Inc. has increased its sales by 500% (40% of students taking JUST ACT in 2007 to 100% of students taking both ACT and WorkKeys in 2017), while transferring the entirety of administrative costs to schools, districts, and states.

Submitted March 02, 2017 at 04:10PM by ContentFarmer http://ift.tt/2lEVDKs