Before ACT Aspire, ACT offered the Plan. The Plan was a straightforward ACT practice test designed for 10th graders. It tested the same subject areas as the ACT and used the same format: a paper and pencil multiple-choice test.
The Plan was seen as the ACT’s version of the PSAT. (The PSAT is the SAT’s practice test.) However, unlike the PSAT, the Plan did not enter you into a scholarship competition. It was just a test to let 10th graders (and their schools) know if they were on track to meet college readiness benchmarks and do well on the ACT.
The ACT also offered the Explore, a test with the same format but less difficult content, meant to show middle school students if they were on track for high school.
The Plan was scored between 1 and 32, while the ACT is scored between 1 and 36. As such, the Plan predicted an ACT score between 1 and 5 points higher than a Plan score. For example, a Plan score of 32 predicted an ACT score between 33 and 36.
However, in 2014, ACT discontinued both the Plan and Explore and replaced them with the ACT Aspire. ACT Aspire also predicts an ACT score, but its format and scoring are very different, and it has much broader goals.
Why Did ACT Create the Aspire?
ACT is hoping the Aspire will become a widely-used test not just for ACT practice, but to assess Common Core standards.
The Common Core is a new series of education standards being adopted by many states in the US. The standards are supposed to be more rooted in critical and creative thinking, so they are less straightforward than the old standards.
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As an example, an old Algebra standard for linear equations could be something like this: “Interpret the equation y = mx + b as defining a linear function, whose graph is a straight line.”
The Common Core expects students to “Distinguish between situations that can be modeled with linear functions and with exponential functions” and to “Prove that linear functions grow by equal differences over equal intervals, and that exponential functions grow by equal factors over equal intervals.”
In other words, the content is the same, but the expectations and methods are different.
Since the Common Core has a different approach, it also requires different standardized tests to monitor student progress. This is where ACT hopes the Aspire will come in. (The PARCC and Smarter Balanced are other examples of tests being offered for the same purpose.)
Because of this, the ACT Aspire isn’t just a 10th grade test – it is designed to be given every year starting in 3rd grade all the way through 10th grade, so it can assess student growth from year to year. In that sense, Aspire is a much larger and more ambitious undertaking than the Plan or Explore.
The goal of Aspire is to identify learning gaps early on to help students stay on track for college readiness, while also preparing students for the content on the ACT. To do that, Aspire will also track college readiness using the ACT’s benchmarks. I hope this helps you for what your looking for