by Craig Gehring, founder and CEO, MasteryPrep
Educators across the country share a common goal: preparing students for success after high school. For many districts, that includes ensuring students are prepared for college-level coursework and can demonstrate that readiness through assessments such as the ACT.
But translating college readiness standards into day-to-day classroom instruction can be challenging. Teachers already face a packed curriculum and a wide range of student needs. In a recent webinar MasteryPrep hosted in partnership with ACT, I shared a practical framework schools can use to bridge this gap: the 4 Rs, which include reinforce, review, raise rigor, and remediate.
Together, these four strategies help schools align instruction with ACT College and Career Readiness Standards while supporting teachers and strengthening student outcomes.
ACT’s framework includes hundreds of standards in English, mathematics, reading, and science. While these provide valuable guidance, it’s unrealistic for teachers to address every single one with equal depth during the school year. Instead, schools should identify the nonnegotiable skills that matter most for college readiness.
Reinforcement means ensuring these critical standards receive additional instructional attention throughout the year. This approach doesn’t require abandoning other standards. Rather, it prioritizes the skills students most need to succeed on college admission tests and in college coursework.
One common strategy is the use of “bell ringers,” short exercises students complete at the beginning of class. These brief activities allow teachers to reinforce key skills and, when aligned with ACT College and Career Readiness Standards, provide repeated exposure to essential concepts without reducing core instructional time.
With ACT Online Prep, Powered by MasteryPrep, teachers can quickly project bell ringers at the start of class on a smartboard or projector. Over the course of a year, these small moments add up to significant additional practice.
Review is essential for any high-stakes assessment, especially one like the ACT, which draws on multiple years of academic content. More importantly, consistent review helps students retain foundational skills over time. This concept is often referred to as spiraling or spaced repetition — revisiting important concepts at intervals so students can retrieve and apply them more effectively.
Standards offer a helpful structure for determining what should be reviewed. While grammar instruction often occurs primarily in middle school, strong skills in this area remain essential for success in college-level writing and are tested on the ACT English section. Without intentional review, many students reach high school having rarely revisited these concepts.
Some schools address this challenge by building structured review into the academic year to reinforce foundational knowledge. For example, a calculus teacher might dedicate time early in the marking period to reviewing key pre-algebra concepts students will need to succeed on the ACT — and in their course.
One of the most effective times to build college readiness is while the content is being taught. Raising rigor means incorporating ACT-style expectations into everyday instruction so students learn how concepts appear in real-world problem-solving and assessment contexts.
For instance, when teaching the Pythagorean theorem, a teacher might consult ACT College and Career Readiness Standards and practice items to see how the concept is applied on the ACT. This allows them to introduce problems that require deeper reasoning, real-world context, or multistep problem solving.
The ACT Online Prep, Powered by MasteryPrep platform allows teachers to filter practice questions by standard, making it easier to incorporate those question types into classwork and quizzes. When students encounter more challenging questions during instruction, they also build familiarity with the kinds of thinking required on the ACT.
Finally, effective college readiness strategies must address an unavoidable reality: students enter classrooms with different academic foundations. Some students may have missed key concepts years earlier. Others may have gaps that make new learning more difficult.
Remediation begins with clear, detailed data. Rather than looking only at overall scores, schools can analyze performance by specific standards to determine exactly where students are struggling. This allows educators to identify patterns and prioritize the most urgent needs. For example, if data shows that a large percentage of students are unfamiliar with a particular grammar rule or math concept, teachers can address that gap directly.
From there, the process typically includes three steps:
Collect and analyze data on student performance.
Segment students by common learning needs.
Provide targeted resources and instruction.
Importantly, remediation should focus on helping students move forward, not simply revisiting the past. By aligning remediation efforts with ACT College and Career Readiness Standards, schools can prioritize the skills that will have the greatest impact on students’ future success.
The 4 Rs provide a practical way for schools to connect curriculum, instruction, and college readiness goals. By reinforcing critical skills, reviewing foundational knowledge, raising rigor during instruction, and remediating learning gaps with data, educators can create a more intentional pathway to college readiness.
Small changes — like introducing bell ringers, structured review periods, and ACT-aligned classroom questions — can make a meaningful difference over time. For schools looking to strengthen their approach to college readiness, the 4 Rs offer a clear and actionable place to start.