Stricken language would be deleted from and underlined language would be added to present law.
Act 724 of the Regular Session
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State of Arkansas As Engrossed: S2/4/25 S2/25/25 S2/25/25 S3/4/25 1
95th General Assembly A Bill 2
Regular Session, 2025 SENATE BILL 183 3
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By: Senator J. Dotson 5
By: Representative Brooks 6
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For An Act To Be Entitled 8
AN ACT CONCERNING STANDARDIZED ASSESSMENTS; TO AMEND 9
THE UNIVERSAL ACT ASSESSMENT PROGRAM ACT; TO AMEND 10
THE TYPES OF ASSESSMENTS PUBLIC SCHOOLS MAY PROVIDE 11
TO STUDENTS; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES. 12
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Subtitle 15
TO AMEND THE UNIVERSAL ACT ASSESSMENT 16
PROGRAM ACT; AND TO AMEND THE TYPES OF 17
ASSESSMENTS PUBLIC SCHOOLS MAY PROVIDE 18
TO STUDENTS. 19
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BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ARKANSAS: 21
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SECTION 1. Arkansas Code Title 6, Chapter 18, Subchapter 16 is amended 23
to read as follows: 24
Subchapter 16 — Universal ACT Assessment Program Act 25
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6-18-1601. Title. 27
This subchapter shall be known and may be cited as the “Universal ACT 28
Assessment Program Act”. 29
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6-18-1602. Definitions Definition. 31
As used in this subchapter: 32
(1)(A) “ACT Assessment” "Assessment" means a test of student 33
educational development that measures student readiness for future learning 34
and that may be used by institutions of higher education as part of their 35
admissions, placement, and scholarship processes and by high schools to 36 As Engrossed: S2/4/25 S2/25/25 S2/25/25 S3/4/25 SB183
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improve college and workforce readiness ; and 1
(2) “Smart Core” means: 2
(A) The college and career readiness curriculum by that 3
name under the rules of the State Board of Education; or 4
(B) A college and career readiness curriculum that is: 5
(i) Established by rules of the state board in 6
coordination with the Division of Higher Education; and 7
(ii) Substituted for the curriculum named “Smart 8
Core”. 9
(B) "Assessment" includes without limitation: 10
(i) The ACT test; 11
(ii) The SAT; 12
(iii) The CLT; 13
(iv) The PreACT; 14
(v) The PSAT 8/9; 15
(vi) The PSAT 10; 16
(vii) The Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship 17
Qualifying Test; 18
(viii) The CLT 10; or 19
(ix) The PreACT 8/9; and 20
(2) "CLT" means the Classic Learning Test administered by Class 21
Learning Initiatives, LLC. 22
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6-18-1603. Creation. 24
There is created in the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education 25
the Universal ACT Assessment Program to be developed, implemented, and 26
administered by the division as provided in this subchapter. 27
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6-18-1604. Purpose. 29
The purpose of the Universal ACT Assessment Program is to: 30
(1) Improve the college readiness of all students in grade 31
eleven (11); 32
(2) Prevent or minimize the continued remediation of nearly 33
fifty percent (50%) of all students entering Arkansas institutions of higher 34
education in one (1) or more subjects because they do not meet the college 35
recommended readiness score of nineteen (19) or higher on the ACT Assessment 36 As Engrossed: S2/4/25 S2/25/25 S2/25/25 S3/4/25 SB183
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an assessment; 1
(3) Advance the number of students, including students of low 2
income, English-language learners, and minority students, taking the ACT 3
Assessment an assessment while in grade eleven (11) to increase the number of 4
first-generation college students; 5
(4) Increase the college participation rates among all racial 6
and ethnic groups; 7
(5) Improve preparation for college and the workforce; 8
(6) Improve the course selection patterns of high school 9
students; 10
(7) Increase the early identification of college -ready students; 11
and 12
(8) Support students participating in the Smart Core by 13
providing a baseline for their college and workforce readiness and an 14
opportunity to benefit from earlier remediation or course selection review; 15
and 16
(9) Provide a link between what students have learned, what they 17
need to learn, and what is necessary in order to be college or workforce 18
ready, or both, by providing expectations and measuring their progress. 19
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6-18-1605. Smart Core and ACT Assessment. 21
(a) The General Assembly finds that students who take the recommended 22
Smart Core courses or students who take additional courses after completing 23
the Smart Core continue to perform better on the ACT Assessment than students 24
who take less than the recommended core. 25
(b) The recommended core courses according to ACT Assessment officials 26
include: 27
(1) Four (4) years or more of English; 28
(2) Three (3) years or more of mathematics; 29
(3) Three (3) years or more of social studies; and 30
(4) Three (3) years or more of natural sciences. 31
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6-18-1606. Implementation. 33
(a) Beginning with the 2017-2018 2025-2026 school year, the Universal 34
ACT Assessment Program may provide each student in grades nine (9), ten (10), 35
eleven (11), or twelve (12) with the opportunity to take the ACT Assessment 36 As Engrossed: S2/4/25 S2/25/25 S2/25/25 S3/4/25 SB183
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an assessment while in grades nine (9), ten (10), eleven (11), or twelve (12) 1
without any charge by using school district funding provided to public school 2
districts and open-enrollment public charter schools , including without 3
limitation National School Lunch Act funds, 42 U.S.C. § 1751 et seq., to pay 4
for the exams assessments as approved by the Division of Elementary and 5
Secondary Education. 6
(b) A Each public school district and open-enrollment public charter 7
school shall allow a student to choose to take the ACT Assessment the 8
following assessments under subsection (a) of this section in grade ten (10) 9
or grade eleven (11) : 10
(1) One (1) of the following in grades nine (9) or ten (10): 11
(A) The PreACT; 12
(B) The PSAT 8/9; 13
(C) The Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship 14
Qualifying Test; 15
(D) The PreACT 8/9; 16
(E) The PSAT 10; or 17
(F) The CLT 10; and 18
(2) One (1) of the following in grade eleven (11): 19
(A) The ACT; 20
(B) The SAT; or 21
(C) The CLT. 22
(c) A public school district or an open -enrollment public charter 23
school shall offer and enable a student, upon the student's request, to take 24
the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery at the public school district 25
or open-enrollment public charter school. " 26
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6-18-1607. Rules. 28
The Division of Higher Education and the Division of Elementary and 29
Secondary Education shall develop rules for the administration of this 30
subchapter. 31
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6-18-1608. Reporting. 33
The Division of Higher Education and the Division of Elementary and 34
Secondary Education shall submit a combined annual report to the Legislative 35
Council by December 1 of each year that establishes: 36 As Engrossed: S2/4/25 S2/25/25 S2/25/25 S3/4/25 SB183
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(1) Establishes compliance with this subchapter , provides; 1
(2) Provides data on the number of participants in the Universal 2
ACT Assessment Program,; and outlines 3
(3) Outlines the impact of this program on the college readiness 4
of high school seniors and the remediation rates at institutions of higher 5
education. 6
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/s/J. Dotson 8
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APPROVED: 4/17/25 11
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