Oklahoma Educational Planning and Assessment System (EPAS)
Check out the Guide to Understanding the EXPLORE Score Report and Understanding Your Child's PLAN Score Report.
Oklahoma EPAS (OK EPAS) is based on ACT's Educational Planning and Assessment System, an integrated series of assessments and reporting services that supports educators as they help students set and reach goals for life after high school. The components of OK EPAS are EXPLORE, PLAN and the ACT Assessment. EPAS assessments provide information about academic progress at crucial points in a student's educational career -- eighth grade, tenth grade, and at the completion of high school. Information provided by EPAS assessments is linked longitudinally to provide an academic information management system. These linkage reports can be used to monitor student progress over time, detect trends and evaluate instructional outcomes in support of school improvement efforts.
- EXPLORE, the eighth grade assessment, is the entry point to EPAS. EXPLORE includes objective assessments in English, math, reading, and science reasoning. It also includes activities that help young students begin the process of career and educational exploration. EXPLORE provides baseline data for monitoring student progress through the high school years.
- PLAN, the tenth grade assessment, includes objective assessments in English, math, reading, and science reasoning. Its educational and career planning activities are tailored to the needs of students who are preparing to make decisions about life after high school. PLAN provides a midpoint review of tenth-grade students' progress toward their educational and career goals -- at a point when there is still time to make changes.
- The ACT Assessment measures the overall outcomes of a student's high school education. Colleges use ACT Assessment results to make admissions, guidance and placement decisions.
Oklahoma EPAS helps teachers, counselors, and school administrators do their jobs effectively. The system provides services in four interrelated areas: student planning, instructional support, assessment and program evaluation.
- In support of student planning, EPAS provides comprehensive information about the relationships among students' interests, academic skills and career choices. This information allows students to make informed decisions as they set their goals.
- EPAS provides workshops and other training programs that help teachers, counselors and administrators make the most effective use of EPAS data.
- The assessments that form the core of EPAS provide a wealth of information about students' educational development over time. They are specially designed to determine how effectively students are acquiring the higher-order thinking skills necessary for successful transitions to postsecondary education or the workplace.
- EPAS reports provide useful evaluation that can help school officials determine how well their programs are helping individual students reach their educational goals. Linkage reports also allow officials to monitor school progress toward goals and standards set by policymakers at the school, district or state level.
For more information on EPAS and the ACT Assessment, visit the ACT Web site.
