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About 11,000 Illinois high school students couldn’t complete the ACT, a college entrance exam required for graduation and used by the state to measure school performance, after a technical issue disrupted testing earlier this month.
The students who could not finish the test on April 8, the first day of testing, have to retake the exam within the testing window, which ends May 2. The testing window between April 8 and May 2 is to ensure students fulfill the state’s graduation and accountability requirements.
The hiccup made for a rocky start to the state’s shift back to the ACT as the test required to graduate from high school. Illinois used the ACT for 15 years before switching to the College Board’s SAT in 2016. The problem delayed the start of the exam for thousands of other students. But state education officials and the company that administers the ACT said there have been no issues with testing since April 8.
State Superintendent Tony Sanders wrote last week in a message to school district leaders about the testing glitch, saying he’d expressed his concerns to the president of ACT.
According to a spokesperson for ACT Inc., a malfunction to the company’s servers delayed the start of the test for some students and prevented others from moving to another section of the exam. Some schools opted to resume testing April 8 while others decided to reschedule.
ACT said that on the same day, students completed 38,500 ACT with Writing tests for 11th and 12th graders, and 22,000 PreACT Secure or PreACT 9 Secure for 9th and 10th graders.
The Illinois State Board of Education is required by federal law to administer accountability assessments to high school students. The College Board’s contract with the state board ended in June 2024. Prior to the end of that contract, the board started a procurement process that took bids from ACT and the College Board. Ultimately,
ACT Inc. received a $53 million testing contract for six years, after the state’s procurement process ranked the company’s application higher than the College Board’s SAT.
A spokesperson for Chicago Public Schools said that the majority of high school students in the district who were taking the exam on April 8 were impacted by the ACT glitch.
“While the technical issues were reportedly resolved by 9:30 a.m., the experience varied across CPS schools — some students were able to complete testing without issue, while others were unable to finish,” said the CPS spokesperson. The district said due to the disruption students were given options to complete testing during the day or to retest at a later time.
High schoolers in Rockford School District 205, the third largest school district in the state, were also impacted by the technical issue.
“We, as a district, responded very quickly to the ACT issues last week and our students were able to test the same day. We were able to provide transportation to those students who started later,” said a spokesperson for the school district.
Rockford says students will not have to retake the ACT, but the district plans to have a makeup day for students who did not test. That makeup day usually includes students who were absent the day the exams were given.
“ACT sincerely apologizes for the disruption and knows the impact any technical issues have on schedules, student experience, and instructional time,” the company said in a statement to Chalkbeat.
ACT is offering vouchers to students for a national test date in June or July. Those weekend tests do not meet state graduation requirements but could allow students to improve the scores they include in college applications for free.
Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.
Samantha Smylie is the state education reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago covering school districts across the state, legislation, special education and the state board of education. Contact Samantha at ssmylie@chalkbeat.org.
