The Montana Office of Public Instruction announced students will continue to be assessed with the American College Testing for now, but funding for the ACT is only available through spring 2024. Photo: NBC Montana
HELENA, Mont. — The Montana Office of Public Instruction announced students will continue to be assessed with the American College Testing for now, but funding for the ACT is only available through spring 2024.
The Montana Board of Regents adopted new college admission requirements in 2021, no longer requiring students to provide ACT scores for college admissions.
The Office of Public Instruction is searching for solutions for future ACT funding, which they say costs $720,000.
The Office of Public Instruction released the following:
The American College Testing (ACT) test will continue to be used as the federally mandated accountability assessment for Montana students in grade 11 through the 2024-2025 school year. The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires assessment testing for students in grades 3-8 and 11.
“The decision that the Commissioner of Higher Education made to no longer fund the ACT is one our schools have to accept, and my office is working toward a solution,” said Superintendent Elsie Arntzen. “I am grateful for the partnership that OCHE and my office have had in administering the ACT. Measuring student success should always take place closest to the learning of the skill. I look forward to expanding Montana’s innovative assessment solution with our high school students in the future.”
The ACT with Writing was initially adopted as the state accountability assessment during the 2015-2016 academic year. In 2019, the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education (OCHE) began funding the ACT through the federal GEAR UP grant. Due to changes in this grant, OCHE is no longer able to commit funding toward the ACT beyond the Spring 2024 administration. The Montana Board of Regents adopted new college admission requirements on May 27, 2021, that no longer required students to provide ACT scores for admission to schools in the Montana University System.
In response to this development, the Office of Public Instruction (OPI) is finding solutions to fund future ACT administrations. The total cost of administering the ACT is nearly $720,000.
During the 2022-2023 administration year, around 9,500 Montana 11th graders participated in the ACT during a school administration. The results showed that 30.3% of students performed at proficient or advanced levels in Math, and 53.4% of students performed at a proficient or advanced level in reading.