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NWEA’s college readiness benchmark linking study is now available!  With this study, NWEA’s partners can use students’ MAP scores to predict their college readiness, as measured by their performance on ACT’s series of assessments - EXPLORE (grades 8 and 9), PLAN (grade 10), and the ACT (grade 11 and 12).  ACT’s college readiness benchmarks are the minimum scores required on the ACT tests for high school students to have approximately a 75 percent chance of earning a grade of C or better, or a 50 percent chance of earning a grade of B or better, in courses commonly taken by first-year college students.

The linking study contains estimated cut scores with 75-90% accuracy in predicting whether students will meet/exceed ACT college readiness benchmarks, and probability tables that give the likelihood of meeting college readiness benchmarks, given observed MAP scores taken in the same school year.  Note, this study does not predict the ACT (or PLAN or EXPLORE) score; only the probability of meeting/exceeding the college readiness benchmarks.

This study was authored by Kingsbury Center researchers Mike Dahlin, Branin Bowe, and John Cronin, with contributions from Bob Theaker and Don Draper.  You can access the report here: http://www.nwea.org/our-research/college-readiness