Educators should expect to see some changes in ELA and STEM percent ready due to a change in the ELA and STEM cut scores.   Prior to Fall 2017 reporting, ACT set new ACT Aspire readiness benchmarks for the combined ELA score (English, Reading and Writing) and combined STEM score (Science and Math).   Because ACT Aspire scores are predictive of performance on the ACT, the ELA and STEM cut scores were updated to more accurately reflect the increased performance expectations of the ACT and college readiness.  There were no changes in the benchmarks for individual subject areas English, Reading, Science and Mathematics.  The 2018 ACT Aspire ELA and STEM scores cannot accurately be compared to those for previous years because of the change in this year’s cut scores.   The ADE recommends comparing average scale scores across years rather than percent ready when analyzing the data. 

Please refer to the following two documents for more information on this update.