Prepare Your Arkansas Students for ACT Aspire with Practice Tests

Unlike the paper Scantron tests of the past, today’s online assessments (like ACT Aspire) require more than a number 2 pencil and the ability to fill in bubble after bubble. With technology-enhanced questions, ACT Aspire and other Arkansas assessments call on students to use unique digital skills to demonstrate everything they’ve learned.

How do you make sure your students are ready for these virtual tests?

By giving them opportunities to practice.

Here’s what you need to know about ACT Aspire and how virtual practice tests can equip your students for test day.

The ACT Aspire, an end-of-year summative assessment administered online, comes from the same testing body that creates the ACT college placement exam. In Arkansas, students in grades 3 through 10 take the ACT Aspire (grade-level versions) to measure their growth and to learn in English, reading, writing, mathematics, and science. The ACT Aspire tests align with ACT College Readiness Benchmarks and Common Core State Standards.

Each grade accumulates a total of 4.5 to 5 hours of testing time. The online assessments include various question types, including constructed responses, selected responses, and technology-enhanced responses. The online ACT Aspire testing platform provides accessibility features to all students and special disability accommodations for qualifying students.

ACT Aspire results for students in grades 7 through 10 provide an idea of how the students will do on the ACT in grade 11. Students and educators can use these results to identify strengths and weaknesses and strategize ACT test preparation.

To earn a high school diploma, Arkansas students must take and pass the Arkansas Civics Exam. Students in grade 11 have opportunities to take the ACT, which covers English, reading, math, and science. Individual schools can decide whether to administer the ACT online or on paper. High school students may also take the WorkKeys assessment to measure career readiness.

Arkansas students with significant cognitive disabilities may qualify to take the Dynamic Learning Maps (DLM) alternate assessment instead of the ACT Aspire. DLM covers the same subjects and grade levels as the ACT Aspire and measures against the same content standards but is more accessible to qualifying students. DLM assessments are instructionally embedded and take place in the fall and spring.

English language learners in Arkansas are assessed with the English Language Proficiency Assessment for the 21st Century, also known as ELPA21.

As online assessments, ACT Aspire tests require Arkansas students to know how to navigate virtual testing environments and interact with digital questions. In addition to being familiar with the test content, your students need the digital skills to get from point A to point B and Z on the virtual test. Virtual practice tests make developing and honing these skills a snap.

With a few virtual practice tests, your students will learn to use virtual tools and features like drag-and-drop, dropdown, graph building, and table filling. They’ll gain confidence interacting with the testing technology — and if you have them practice on the same device they’ll use on test day, they’ll also gain fluency with the tablet or computer.

If you’d like to know exactly what questions and learning standards your students are struggling with, giving practice tests through Edulastic can give you those exact insights. Arkansas learning standards are already in our platform — all you have to do is map practice test questions to the appropriate standard, and you’ll see where your students are struggling or thriving.

Edulastic is all set up to make ACT Aspire test prep easier than it’s ever been. We’ve already uploaded practice ACT Aspire test content to our Edulastic Public Library. Just set up a free Edulastic account, and you’ll be able to access this content and administer practice tests to your students.

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Join Edulastic for FREE to prepare for ACT Aspire

Resources

• https://edulastic-web.snapwiz.net/blog/act-aspire-practice/
• https://dese.ade.arkansas.gov/Offices/learning-services/assessment
• https://adecm.ade.arkansas.gov/Attachments/2021-2022_Final_Testing_Calendar_WorkKeys_Included_8-9-21_140627.pdf
• https://dese.ade.arkansas.gov/Offices/learning-services/curriculum-support/arkansas-civics-exam
• https://www.act.org/content/act/en/products-and-services/act-aspire.html