The Craig School

Educational Planning and Assessment System (EPAS)

Many of you might have heard of the ACT as a viable testing alternative to the SAT and an acknowledged component of most college’s application process. What you might not have heard of is the EXPLORE or the PLAN. Along with the ACT, the EXPLORE and the PLAN make up a collection of progressive college preparatory assessments known as the Educational Planning and Assessment System (EPAS).

The Craig High School has integrated the EPAS into our academic program. The reasons are many but the overlying benefit of this system to the Craig High School is in its content guidance and the continuum of college preparedness that it provides. It allows us to not only evaluate student progress but also provides us with a tool to evaluate the effectiveness of the instruction that we are providing.

The tests themselves are based on a continuum. Students take the EXPLORE in 9th grade, the PLAN in 10th and 11th grade, and the ACT in the spring of 11th grade and/or the fall of 12th grade. As students move through the assessment system, their progress is measured at each level and the results are used to provide guidance and direction in determining effective interventions and content focus.