For many K-12 leaders, the conversation around assessment is shifting. Schools are no longer looking for a single snapshot of student performance — they want actionable insights that help educators align instruction, strengthen advising, intervene earlier, and create clearer pathways to college and career success.
For this reason, an increasing number of schools and districts are using the PreACT test for purposes that extend well beyond test preparation.
Across urban, rural, public, and private schools, educators are leveraging PreACT assessments to identify learning gaps earlier, build data-driven cultures, support instructional planning, and connect students to future opportunities.
Programs such as PreACT Rising Stars, which recognizes students who score in the top 50% on PreACT 8/9, help schools motivate students to improve future ACT test performance while giving districts additional data to address academic achievement gaps.
And according to ACT’s recent 2026 Graduating Class data report, one in three ACT-tested students, over half a million altogether, took the PreACT nationwide. This is a 12.5% year-over-year increase, continuing a four-year upward trend.
With the PreACT administered at over 6,200 schools in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., ACT recently highlighted two schools that successfully demonstrated how flexible implementation strategies can help institutions address different issues while using the same readiness framework.
Purcell Marian High School in Cincinnati, Ohio, is a diverse Catholic high school that uses PreACT 8/9 and PreACT assessments to develop a progressive view of student readiness beginning freshman year. Rather than treating assessment as a one-time event, school leaders built a continuous improvement model that tracks student growth over time and helps educators identify academic gaps before students fall behind.
They also realized that PreACT performance often correlates with the nationally available Iowa Assessment score they use for graduation competency, allowing them to adjust their curriculum to help students succeed on the Iowa test before graduating.
Overall, this comprehensive system has created a positive impact on multiple fronts:
ACT-tested students in the class of 2028 increased their math and reading scores by 20% from freshman to sophomore year.
The school has established a college and career department that uses PreACT and ACT data to guide students in their postsecondary planning, including college and professional fields such as manufacturing and entrepreneurship.
The school offers student workshops to help develop test-taking skills and reduce anxiety before taking the PreACT and the ACT.
“We can download the data, make a spreadsheet, compare with other assessment results, and make charts. Previously, we had to pull data from wherever we could find it. With ACT, there has always been data online,” said Patricia Clancy, the testing coordinator at Purcell Marian High School.
During the pandemic, when there were clear learning losses, this early visibility became especially valuable. By using longitudinal assessment data, the school was able to guide instructional decisions, target interventions, and keep students on track for postsecondary success.
This approach reflects a growing trend among schools that view readiness assessments as an ongoing strategy for student support rather than a standalone benchmark. Leveraging the PreACT enhances instructional alignment and fosters collaboration among educators.
At Edison Preparatory High School, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, administrators paired the PreACT with ACT Instructional Mastery resources to improve both student outcomes and teaching strategies. School leaders emphasized that success did not come solely from testing; it came from helping educators understand what was behind the assessment data and how to apply those insights in the classroom.
Edison introduced PreACT testing to a cohort of tenth graders in the spring of 2024, then had them retake the test in the fall. Using the spring results, teachers revised their curriculum ahead of the autumn retest. These changes resulted in notable student score increases.
The students’ average PreACT Composite score jumped 1.2 points (from 17.3 to 18.5).
Students’ average score on each of the four sections of the test increased by one point or more from spring to fall 2024.
The percentage of students who met ACT College Readiness Benchmarks in English and math increased by 3% in both subject areas.
“Improving student performance began with educating our teachers about the ‘why’ behind ACT assessments and analyzing the comprehensive data PreACT assessments offer; building this shared understanding played a critical role in the gains we saw between test administrations,” explained Rachael McAnany, the assistant principal at Edison Preparatory High School.
This case demonstrates how assessment data can become a catalyst for professional learning and curriculum refinement when educators have the tools to interpret and act on the results.
These success stories show that early PreACT readiness data is most effective when schools integrate it into broader student success systems and compare it with other assessment results. Whether schools aim to improve ACT or state assessment scores, align instruction, strengthen advising, expand postsecondary access, or build a college-going culture, earlier insights create more opportunities to support students before key transition points.
As districts continue to rethink how they measure and support readiness, the schools seeing the strongest outcomes are seeing success using assessment data as a starting point for action.
Check out our resources to learn how you can use PreACT data to increase test scores, close academic performance gaps, and help students better visualize their postsecondary pathways.