Judge Approves $16M Settlement in Class Action Lawsuit Against ACT

George H. Wu, a federal judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California, has approved the settlement of a class action against ACT. The testing company did not admit wrongdoing but agreed to pay $16 million to members of the class who live in California. The suit charged that ACT, in violation of the law, let colleges know about the disability status of some students.

Under the settlement, ACT cannot:

• Provide any information on score reports for the ACT test "which discloses that the examinee received disability-related testing accommodations or that the examinee has a disability (including examinees self-identifying as having a disability)."
• Use "school" or "national" to "identify the location of an exam administration on score reports for the ACT Test … that would identify whether an individual took the ACT Test by way of national or special testing."
• Include "any examinee’s answer to any question regarding disabilities on any score report for the ACT Test sent to any covered program, for any test taken in a college-reportable manner."
• Ask about "an examinee’s disability status during registration."