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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
[email protected] | @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
[email protected]
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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)