CERT Testing

CERT (COLLEGE EQUIPPED READINESS TOOL)

The CERT assessment, which is aligned with the ACT College and Career Readiness Standards, was designed to measure your child’s proficiency in English, Mathematics, Reading, and Science. Below is information intended to help you better understand the results of this assessment and any previous assessments.

What are the ACT College and Career Readiness Standards?

The ACT College and Career Readiness Standards (the “Standards”) are the backbone of the ACT test, a test used by many colleges and universities to gauge the academic readiness of applicants. The Standards include the essential skills and knowledge that students will need to be college and career ready. While your child will not likely take an official ACT until 11th grade, we thought you would want to know how your child is performing now, while there is still time to change things, if necessary.

How to Access Your CERT Account

Website URL: certforschools.com

Username: Student ID Number

Password: CERT2018

How does CERT work?

Up to three times per school year, your child will take an ACT-like assessment through CERT. The results help us determine your child’s strengths and weaknesses with regard to the Standards in English, Mathematics, Reading, and Science. With CERT’s detailed assessment reports, we are able to provide the help and remediation your child needs as an individual. As a bonus, CERT offers teacher-controlled access to educational videos that explain answers, review important subject matter, and offer sensible test-taking advice. (Your child can access this videos at certforschools.com). We highly encourage your child to use this free online resource.

Understanding Your Child’s Course Report

The Course Report enclosed with this letter provides, among other things, a score in each of the four subject areas tested. To understand how your child currently stacks up against the Standards, you should compare your child’s score to the benchmark scores (the “Benchmarks”) in each of the four subject areas. The Benchmarks represent the level of achievement required for students to have a 50% chance of obtaining a B or higher, or about a 75% chance of obtaining a C or higher, in a corresponding credit-bearing first-year college course. The Course Report also includes an estimated ACT composite range to help you predict how well your child is likely to do on the “real” ACT in 11th grade.

ACT Subject-Area Test Gr 9 & Gr 10 Fall Benchmark Gr 10 Winter/Spring, Gr 11 & 12 CPE Benchmark

English 15 18

Math 19 19

Reading 18 20

Science 20 23​

CERT FAQS

Is CERT just designed for high school juniors?

No, CERT offers assessment and remedial tools for students in 6th through 12th grade. CERT accommodates all educators who believe that Career and College Readiness Standard performance cannot be measured too early or too often. The most successful schools are those that measure student performance frequently and early to provide intervention services as appropriate.

Is CERT better for a small group of students, or all students?

CERT is designed to provide data for ALL students based on the Career and College Readiness Standards, as ALL students will ultimately take the ACT and pursue postsecondary career and educational opportunities.

Is CERT a test-prep program?

CERT is an assessment program with remediation functionality, not a test-prep program. While CERT is embedded with test-preparation functionality (i.e., video answer explanations for every test question and subject-matter and test-strategy remedial lessons), its primary function is to provide teachers and administrators with detailed reports that are easy to understand.

Does CERT offer insights into student performance with regard to skills set forth in the Common Core State Standards?

Yes, every CERT test question is "tagged" against the Career and College Readiness Standards and the Common Core State Standards.

Is CERT a real ACT test?

No, the ACT did not create CERT and it does not endorse CERT. That being said, all of CERT's content is age-appropriate and designed to match real ACT assessments, providing students with valuable practice opportunities and teachers and administrators with valuable insights into student performance.

Does CERT offer grade-level placement?

No. Because colleges and universities prefer ACT assessment data for admission and scholarship purposes, CERT is designed to provide schools and students with performance indicators that are tied to national benchmarks. CERT eliminates the misrepresentation of grade-level reporting to ensure that every student, regardless of age or grade, has the same opportunity for ACT and postsecondary career and educational success.

Can students access the remedial lessons from home?

Yes, with administrative permission. As mentioned above, students can view remedial video lessons from nearly any device with Internet access, but only after permission from their teacher has been granted.

When do students view the remedial lessons?

Schools generally have two options:

• Schools can offer structured or supervised time during the school day.

• Schools can permit students to access remedial lessons from home.