The ACT Aspire assessed students at grades 9 and 10 in the areas of English, Reading, Mathematics, Science, and Writing. ACT Aspire results are reported on a 3-digit score scale.
DPI Performance Levels were established to classify students into one of four performance levels (Below Basic, Basic, Proficient, Advanced) for the subject areas of English Language Arts (English, Reading, and Writing scores) and Mathematics.
College readiness benchmarks were also established for ACT Aspire results. Students who were reported as “Exceeding” or “Ready” met the ACT Readiness Benchmark for a subject while students that were reported as “Close” or “In Need of Support” had not met the ACT Readiness Benchmark for a subject. 3-digit scores were also reported for an overall composite score (average of the English, Reading, Mathematics and Science scores), an English Language Arts (ELA) score (average of the English, Reading and Writing scores) and STEM score (average of the Mathematics and Science scores). There are no ACT® Readiness Benchmarks for the overall composite score.
A number of 2-digit subject skill scores were also reported for each subject. For example, three subject skill scores were reported for English in 9th grade: 1) conventions of standard, 2) knowledge of language and 3) production of writing.
2-digit subject skill scores were compared to ACT® Readiness Benchmarks. Students that were reported as Within ACT® Readiness Range had met the ACT® Readiness Benchmark while students that were reported as Below ACT® Readiness Range had not met the ACT® Readiness Benchmark.
