By Tina Gridiron, ACT’s chief impact and learning officer
For K-12 educators and higher education leaders, the challenges facing today's students are rarely isolated. Academic readiness influences college access. Financial barriers influence whether students enroll and pursue degrees. And both are shaped by the systems, supports, and opportunities available to students and families before they ever step onto a college campus.
That’s why strategic partnerships matter.
During the 2025–2026 academic year, The Scholarship Academy partnered with ACT's Center for Impact and Learning and the Betty and Davis Fitzgerald Foundation to advance two interconnected priorities across Atlanta Public Schools:
- Increasing ACT participation and overall college readiness through educator instructional development and student preparation.
- Reducing the financial barriers that can stand between students and postsecondary success.
The partnership is part of a broader commitment to expanding access to high-quality, research-backed college and career readiness resources for learners and families across metro Atlanta. Its first-year outcomes offer an important lesson for education leaders: when academic preparation and college affordability are addressed together, schools can create stronger, more actionable pathways to opportunity.
Educator capacity building to strengthen early college readiness
A central component of the partnership was the implementation of ACT Instructional Mastery Professional Learning, or AIM, for math educators at Booker T. Washington High School, Frederick Douglass High School, and North Atlanta High School.
The goal was not simply to prepare students for a test. AIM equipped educators with instructional strategies aligned to ACT College and Career Readiness Standards, helping teachers strengthen mathematical reasoning, problem-solving, data-driven instruction, and college readiness within daily classroom instruction.
This distinction is critical for school and system leaders. Sustainable improvement does not depend solely on adding another student intervention or short-term preparation program. It requires investing in the educators who shape student learning every day and building lasting curriculum within schools to sustain strong college-going cultures.
When educators learn, students learn
The educator response to AIM was overwhelmingly positive. One hundred percent of survey respondents said they would recommend the professional development to colleagues, and nearly all rated the trainer's expertise at the highest level. Educators also reported feeling prepared to implement at least one immediate instructional strategy.
Those strategies were practical and designed for classroom application. Teachers planned to apply these strategies by:
- Using specific problem-solving frameworks to strengthen mathematical reasoning.
- Integrating ACT-style questions into daily instruction.
- Applying structured test-taking approaches such as the “E-S-E” (Enter the Question, Solve/Strategize/Skip, Exit the Question) strategy.
- Establishing daily problem-solving and timed practice routines to build confidence and pacing skills that can be used when taking the ACT test as well as in general classroom learning.
First-year outcomes prove the partnership works
The first-year results of the partnership's capacity-building approach translated into measurable student gains.
Across the three participating schools, ACT participation increased from 927 students in 2024–25 to 1,006 students in 2025–26 – an overall increase of nearly nine percent.
The increase was particularly notable at Frederick Douglass High School, where the number of test takers grew by 23%, and Booker T. Washington High School, where participation increased by 11%.
Jessica Johnson, executive director, The Scholarship Academy
Performance gains were equally encouraging:
- Booker T. Washington High School saw its composite score increase by 2.3 points, with math and reading scores each rising by 3.4 points.
- Frederick Douglass High School's composite score increased by 1.1 points, with a 2.1-point gain in math and a 1.4-point gain in reading.
- North Atlanta High School saw its math scores increase from 20.9 to 21.5.
The strongest gains occurred in math, the area most directly aligned to the AIM professional learning focus. These results reinforce a broader point for education leaders: investments in teacher capacity can be a powerful lever for improving student outcomes.
College access is only part of the equation
Academic readiness can open doors. Affordability determines whether many students can walk through them.
Recognizing that connection, the partnership also focused on scholarship and college affordability support. Through collaboration with Achieve Atlanta, The Scholarship Academy implemented its Learn-Do-Track model to help students identify, pursue, and secure funding for college.
The results were significant:
- Across the three schools, students secured more than $6 million in total scholarship dollars.
- In total, 107 scholarships were awarded to 41 students, including $602,228 in private and competitive scholarship awards.
- Students submitted 463 scholarship applications and identified 3,327 scholarship opportunities.
"We are thrilled to partner with ACT and the Betty and Davis Fitzgerald Foundation to be able to provide educators with more professional development opportunities, and by extension, students with more resources and postsecondary pathways for success in the metro Atlanta area,” said Jessica Johnson, executive director of The Scholarship Academy. “Supporting educators with ACT's Instructional Mastery program in math is opening doors for these Atlanta students they may not have tried to walk through before."
Through the Scholarship Academy’s Pop-Up Labs at partner high schools and community centers around the metro Atlanta area, cohort programming, individualized coaching, and scholarship research workshops, students developed personalized scholarship portfolios, strengthened their essays, and created college funding plans. Importantly, 100% of students participating in the scholarship cohort submitted at least three scholarship applications during the academic year.
Integrated partnerships drive actionable outcomes
For education leaders, the most important takeaway from this first year may be the relationship between these college readiness and college affordability outcomes.
These are often addressed through separate programs, departments, or funding streams. Yet students experience them as part of the same journey.
This partnership demonstrated the potential of an integrated approach and reflected the importance of measurement and continuous educator learning. Rigorous evaluation and data-informed decision-making help partners understand student and family experiences, track progress, identify effective strategies, and determine what can be scaled.
As the partnership moves into its next phase, the focus remains on expanding educator training, increasing ACT participation, strengthening mathematics achievement, growing scholarship outcomes, and reducing college costs and student loan dependence.
Every additional ACT score point can expand opportunity. Every scholarship dollar can reduce future debt. When educators, institutions, and mission-aligned community partners unite around a shared purpose, those gains can compound, creating stronger pathways to college success and economic mobility for students and families.
