ACT, Inc. is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (NTEE classification B90, Educational Services, per the IRS), primarily known for the ACT, a standardized test designed to assess high school students' academic achievement and college readiness. For the U.S. high school graduating class of 2019, 52 percent of graduates had taken the ACT test; the more than 1.78 million students included virtually all high school graduates in 17 states. Founded in Iowa City, Iowa, in 1959, the organization has more than 1,000 employees. Its Interim CEO is Janet Godwin, who assumed leadership of ACT in 2020. Previous CEOs include Marten Roorda (2015–2020), Jon Whitmore (2010–2015), Richard L. Ferguson, (1988–2010), and Oluf Davidsen (1974–1988). In addition to the ACT test, ACT programs include ACT Academy, ACT Aspire, ACT CollegeReady, ACT Online Prep, Mawi Learning, ScootPad, PreACT and PreACT 8/9, ACT Tessera, ACT WorkKeys, ACT Work Ready Communities, and the National Career Readiness Certificate. History The ACT was co-founded by University of Iowa professor Everett Franklin Lindquist in 1959. Lindquist earned his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa in 1927, and then immediately joined its College of Education faculty. In 1929, Lindquist constructed the tests used for the Iowa Academic Meet, a contest to identify Iowa's top high school scholars. In 1935, Lindquist and his colleagues developed the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS). In 1942, he introduced the Iowa Tests of Educational Development (ITED) for students in grades 9–12. Lindquist also used the ITED tests to help develop the Armed Forces Tests of General Educational Development, better known as the GED. In 1958 at a conference sponsored by the Educational Testing Service (ETS), Lindquist presented The Nature of the Problem of Improving Scholarship and College Entrance Examinations. Lindquist argued entrance examinations should evaluate students’ readiness to perform college-level work, and should, therefore, be tests of achievement and not of innate intelligence or aptitude, a clear challenge to the test then known as the Scholastic Aptitude Test (now called the SAT). Lindquist and Ted McCarrel, the University of Iowa registrar, led a team that developed and then delivered the first-ever ACT test to 75,406 students on November 7, 1959. ACT endorses the Code of Fair Testing Practices in Education and the Code of Professional Responsibilities in Educational Measurement. ACT has policy platforms providing recommendations in three areas: K-12 education, post-secondary education, and workforce development. ACT also publicly publishes its Privacy Policy, which describes