High school students across the country could see previously issued ACT test scores change after the testing organization identified “a scoring issue.”
ACT sent an email May 13 alerting school district test coordinators that the organization found a need to remove and reissue scores for students who took the online ACT test this spring during school-day testing. The email goes on to say that students’ composite and section scores will either remain the same or go up slightly based on their individual performance.
“Your scores will NOT be lower than what was previously released,” the email states.
Within central Ohio, Upper Arlington Schools and Olentangy Local School District confirmed receipt of this email from ACT. Students affected will see their current score removed from their MyACT account on May 13, and scores will be available again no later than June 2, according to the email.
Juan Elizondo, director of strategic communications for ACT, told The Dispatch that the organization conducts analyses before and after tests to ensure scores align with expected patterns.
“What we discovered in that process is that outcomes for students who took the online test during the school day this spring, their scores did not meet what we expected,” he said. “They weren’t in the ranges or the patterns that we would have anticipated.”
Elizondo said the issue was not that one test was harder than another, but rather a problem with the scoring process. ACT is now rescoring affected exams to ensure results are accurate and comparable across all students, regardless of how or when they tested.
Students do not need to take any action, and ACT will resend scores to high schools and any colleges, universities or scholarship organizations students selected, according to the email. The organization also said it has updated the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce on the issue.
Elizondo said the vast majority of affected students are juniors or younger, meaning they likely haven’t submitted college or scholarship applications. For the less than 5% of high school seniors this impacts, he said ACT is paying close attention to them to ensure they and the organizations they applied to have the information they need.
“We recognize the anxiety; we regret it,” Elizondo said. “We never want to be in this situation, but we are certainly grateful that we have these processes and the process worked.”
Reporter Emma Wozniak can be reached at ewozniak@dispatch.com or @emma_wozniak_ on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: ‘Scoring issue’ affects ACT results in Ohio, nationwide
Reporting by Emma Wozniak, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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