Nine School Districts Partner with Horizon Education
Horizon Education has partnered with school districts in the state of Arizona since 2021 providing ACT preparation benchmarks. The Arizona State Board of Education adopted statewide alternative assessments to the AzMERIT, to measure students’ proficiency, college and career readiness, as well as providing high quality, nationally recognized college entrance exams at no cost to the student or schools. One of those alternative tests is the ACT. The ACT Aspire is Arizona’s statewide high school achievement test administered to students in Grade 9 and the ACT is the statewide high school achievement test administered to students in Grade 11. The school districts partnering with Horizon Education chose to administer the nationally recognized ACT to their high school students. The benefits to doing this for their students is preparing them for taking the actual ACT. Students can then use their ACT scores for applications for college and scholarships, and use scores in place of a placement exam for college courses to prevent students from being placed in remedial courses.
ACT Preparation Benchmark Easy-To-Use Interface
12 month access to an individualized, online student portal
Easy administration of subject area practice assessments and subtests are available through the Horizon portal to measure growth; students can practice ACT readiness skills any place they have an internet connection
A suite of full length ACT assessments, giving students opportunities to familiarize themselves with the ACT item types, subsections, timing, and measure growth
Score reports with analysiswithin 30 minutes of testing. This allows for showing progress toward targeted readiness standards, and timely and frequent feedback on student progress.
An implementation team to work with each participating site to make certain
Testing Tools - Horizon Education platform makes use of standard digital assessment tools to allow students to interact with the test in a manner that suits their individual needs. These include:
Accessibility - Change the color scheme, font size, and zoom of the assessment window
Response Masking - Eliminate answer choices during the testing process
Full Screen - Improve visibility and minimize distractions
Resources - Review the testing instructions and math formula sheets
Notepad - Take notes across an entire section in an unscored ‘notepad’ area
Sticky Note - Attach unscored notes to specific items and resources
Drawing Mode - Draw and write over the top of a passage, item, or answer choice
Educator ACT Report Results
Within minutes of students completing benchmark assessments, administrators and teachers see:
Overall performance for a group of students
Histogram of student performance to help find patterns in the data
Section scores
Content area benchmark scores
Strength and improvement areas
Test details on student subsection performance, item with answer choice selection rates, and test item analysis
Opportunities for Department & Grade Level Data
Measuring growth over time
Making adjustments to scope, sequence, and pacing documents
Calibrating instruction to match student need
Evaluating effectiveness of the instructional program
ACT Class Report Sample
Opportunities for School Level Data
Monitoring/measuring gaps between populations
Measuring growth over time
Planning for future resource allocation
Identifying unusual data patterns and asking ‘why’?
Student ACT Report Results
Within minutes of completing benchmark assessments, students see:
overall scaled score
overall subscore result
breakdown of their top five strengths
breakdown of their top five opportunities for growth that allows students an opportunity to analyze and learn from their errors
ACT Student Report Sample
Opportunities for Student Level Data
Post-secondary planning conversations
Student study meetings, IEPs, 504s
Building confidence
Building ownership of learning outcomes
Focus on mastery orientation: effort and use of appropriate strategies
Develop their understanding and competence of material
Set short-term goals based on their own growth data
Preparation for the ACT exam
Arizona Schools Using Data to Create a Culture of Collaborative Inquiry
Arizona educators understand that it is important to use data with fidelity and set intentional goals, as well as evaluate systems and policies in place. When everyone has the right information to make decisions, all students can excel, everyone is empowered and changes can be made in the right direction.Valuable, actionable data over time can be used to guide school improvement and build a districtwide culture of inquiry for sound decision-making to meet a school’s purpose and vision.
Schedule a Meeting
Ready to learn more? Schedule a meeting with Horizon Education using the form below.