Kentucky plans to ditch ACT in favor of SAT for college entrance exam

The Kentucky Department of Education plans to ditch the ACT in favor of the SAT for the college entrance exam given to high school juniors.

The Kentucky Department allowed its contract with ACT to expire, and it has a new contract with the SAT, Jennifer Stafford, associate education commissioner, said in a July 15 webcast.

Department of Education officials said in June that, based on factors including cost and technical quality, they would award a contract to College Board, which develops and administers standardized tests, to give students the SAT to all Kentucky high school juniors each spring.

Students previously took the ACT each spring. They could opt to retake the ACT on their own, and they could still do that under the new contract, which applies only to the junior-year test paid for by the state.

The ACT and SAT are similar, standardized tests used for college admissions, though the ACT includes a science section, and the SAT does not include a straightforward science section.

College requirements vary by university, and the SAT is slightly more common nationwide.

KDE has since received a “protest” against giving the contract to College Board for the SAT, and work on the contract had paused as of July 15, pending a resolution. Such a protest is a normal part of the bidding process, Stafford said.

Department officials did not say during the webcast how much each test costs or who had protested.

Jennifer Ginn, spokesperson for KDE, said the department would not comment on the change while the protest was ongoing.

Many Kentucky school districts already use College Board for Advanced Placement exams, officials said.

Education Commissioner Robbie Fletcher said during the July 15 webcast that there were perks with the SAT, including districts having a four-week period to give the test.

The SAT test for juniors is a two-hour, 14-minute exam that assesses students’ reading, writing, science and math skills, Stafford said during the July 15 presentation.

The SAT has reading, writing and math sections, generating a score on each section on a 200-800 scale.

The SAT also delivers an “analysis in science” score generated by students’ performance on relevant questions in the reading, writing and math sections.

This story was originally published August 12, 2025 at 3:36 PM.