ACT creates Center for Equity in Learning

IOWA CITY - ACT has established a center to focus on closing achievement gaps in learning, the testing giant announced this week.

The Center for Equity in Learning is to be based at ACT's Iowa City headquarters and combine the services of the organization's Office for the Advancement of Underserved Learners, the ACT Foundation and corporate donating and volunteer programs.

Nearly three in five high school graduates in 2015 took the ACT college readiness test, a three-hour standardized exam used by many colleges and universities to evaluate applicants.

That breadth of influence is expected to allow the new center to influence the persistent U.S. achievement gaps for students from poor families, students of color and other marginalized groups, said Melissa Murer Corrigan, ACT's vice president of social impact strategies and programs.

'We know that there are some huge societal problems in equity and learning,” she said. 'ACT really looks forward to being a key player in addressing those gaps.”

The center has 14 staffers who previously worked for the ACT Foundation or for the organization's Office for Advancement of Underserved Learners, Murer Corrigan said. Officials at the center also plan to work with outside groups.

The new venture is to expand ACT's work in educational equity, such as its fee waiver program for both the test and its online preparation materials.

Last year, half of white students who took the ACT met three or more of its benchmarks, compared with 25 percent of Hispanic students and 12 percent of black students, according to ACT's annual Condition of College and Career Readiness report.

A main focus of the center is to support and conduct research that could help close that and similar achievement gaps, Murer Corrigan said.

'The timing was right, related to everything going on throughout the U.S. and in our world,” she said. 'It's very aligned with the ACT and our mission to help people achieve educational and workplace success.”