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Personalized College and Career

Planning

ACT State Org Summer Webinar Series

6/4/2015

Tyler Coon - Director of ACT Profile, Customer Experience

• ACT for 6 years

• Primary focus on technology and operations

• B.B.A. Management Information Systems, University of Iowa

• M.S.Ed. Education Entrepreneurship, University of Pennsylvania

tyler.coon@act.org | @TylerCoonACT

#ACTProfile

Hello

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Most known for the ACT college entrance test, ACT currently

serves 10M individuals through our assessment product

continuum. While the relationship with the individual has been

purely transactional in the past, ACT has begun to build from

research and data towards personalized insights over time.

(A Different) Introduction to ACT

Improved decision making

Increased self-awareness

Expanded view of opportunities

Planned education & career map

Why Personalized

Insights?

Wandering Path Students

• Wandering without a goal or plan

• Could benefit from developing a

personally relevant, meaningful goal

and plan

Roadblock Students

• Has a goal, may not attain it, but

isn’t considering other options

• Could be made aware of a broader

range of personally relevant,

meaningful options

The Problem

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Career & Educational Planning - Critical Aspects

• Self-Knowledge – interests, abilities,

and values

• Connecting your personal

characteristics to educational and

occupational options that better fit you

• Skills for finding and using relevant

career and educational resources

• Taking appropriate actions to achieve

goals

Individual Benefits

• Persist in college

• Remain in their major

• Complete their college

degree in a timely

manner

• Reduce likelihood to

accumulate unneeded

debt

Persistence in Major by ACT Score Range and Interest-Major Fit

All learners need to focus on good fit to ensure college and

career success.

College Success

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94 percent of first-generation students

aspire to earn a post-secondary degree…

First-generation students are less likely to select a

planned major that’s a good fit with their interests.

Source 2013 report from ACT and COE: “The Condition of College and Career Readiness 2013: First-generation Students.”

Yet common challenges that face these

students include:

• Lack of family educational capital

• Alienation from PSE environment

First-Generation Students

Free – Lowering barriers to access

Social – Connecting the network of planning

Mobile – Meeting people where they are

Insight-Driven – personalized and based on research

ACT Profile is a social college and career planning tool

built on more than 30 years of research, focusing on

personalized experiences.

Delivering a meaningful experience

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ACT Profile helps

students start with

who they are,

allowing them to see

the critical aspects of

college and career

planning that go

beyond a test score.

For Students

For Students

ACT Profile allows students to use

the following to make smarter

decisions about their future:

• Inventories

• Major & Career Maps

• Major, Career, & School

Search

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ACT Profile Counselor Accounts

allow counselors to better

understand students’ progress in

the college and career planning

process. After connecting to

students, counselors can see

students’ insights and use

them to begin conversations

about the planning process.

For Counselors and Educators

• Identify interest areas

• Spot potential challenges or

gaps in plans

• Remind students to

complete critical tasks

• Share relevant resources

and information

Counselor tools to

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Demo

1. Use Profile to provide guidance with

students

2. Connect with your students to get

aggregated dashboards and provide further

guidance

3. Create groups for increased segmentation

and focus

Getting Started

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Download resources for counselors on:

• Connecting to Students

• Understanding Dashboards

• Creating Groups

• Student Activity Packets

www.act.org/profile/counselors

Additional Resources

Thank You!

www.act.org/profile

tyler.coon@act.org

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Appendix

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Appendix – Major Map

• The ACT Major Map displays the

locations of 153 college majors

and programs of study

• The map is empirical and based

on the measured interests of

college students in the majors

shown on the map

• All majors can be organized

according to the interests of

students for types of basic

activities: data, ideas, people, and

things activities

• These four basic activities serve

as compass points and are shown

on the outer edge of the map

• Of the 153 majors, 42 are based

on data from 2-year institutions

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Appendix – Career Map

• Map based the Holland Occupational

Themes (RIASEC)

• Theory of careers and vocational

choice based upon personality types

• Developed by the psychologist John L.

Holland

• Each letter or code stands for a

particular "type": Realistic (Doers),

Investigative (Thinkers), Artistic

(Creators), Social (Helpers),

Enterprising (Persuaders), and

Conventional (Organizers)

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Appendix – Interest Inventory

• Contains 12 items for each of six

scales—72 items total

• Uses a three-choice response format

(dislike, indifferent, like)

• Untimed and usually takes about 10-

14 minutes to complete

• Items emphasize work-relevant

activities that are likely to be familiar

to individuals, either through

participation or observation

• Reliability and validity are backed by

130 million inventories delivered

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Appendix – Abilities Inventory

• 18-item instrument that

measures informed self-

estimates of abilities

• Each ability is accompanied

by a definition and list of

relevant experiences to

consider

• Students rate themselves

compared to same-age

peers on a five-point scale

ranging from High (top 10%)

to Low (lowest 10%)

• The inventory contains a

broad range of abilities,

including those commonly

assessed by tests (e.g.,

Mathematics) and not

typically assessed by tests

(e.g., Artistic)

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Appendix – Values Inventory

• 22-item instrument that measures

work-relevant values

• Each value is accompanied by a

definition

• Students choose one of four

response options: Don’t Want, Not

Important, Somewhat Important,

and Very Important

• The inventory contains a broad set

of work-relevant values related to

work settings (e.g., Working

Outside), work tasks (e.g., Helping

Others), work preparation (e.g.,

Short Training Time), and work

opportunities (e.g., Prestige)