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How KIPP Atlanta Collegiate Embedded Daily ACT Prep to Build a Culture of College Readiness

  • Onalee Smith
  • July 24, 2025

Making college access a reality for every student is the driving goal of KIPP Atlanta Collegiate, a Title I high school with more than 800 students in the heart of Atlanta, Georgia. Serving primarily first-generation college-bound students, KIPP Atlanta Schools (KIPP ATL) recognized the ACT as a crucial gatekeeper to post-secondary success.

But boosting college access requires a school culture of college readiness—one that includes high expectations, strong student support, and strategic academic preparation tailored to the unique needs of every learner. To make that culture a reality, KIPP ATL needed a partner to support its schoolwide effort to embed ACT prep into the school day and make it accessible to all students, regardless of their starting point.

MasteryPrep embedded two instructors on campus at KIPP Atlanta Collegiate to help build its unique model for daily ACT instruction, designed to prepare students not only academically but also mentally and emotionally so they can navigate the challenges of the high-stakes assessment.

“We were looking for something consistent that could be embedded into our classes,” says Atua Emu, Director of Post-Secondary Counseling at KIPP Atlanta Collegiate. “We were drawn to MasteryPrep because they understood our students and our mission. They weren’t just selling test prep; they were offering a mindset shift.”

KIPP Atlanta Schools

  • 11 Charter Schools
  • 5,500+ Scholars in Grades K-12
KIPP Atlanta Schools is an open enrollment network of 11 charter schools serving 5,500+ scholars in Grades K-12. Now celebrating over 22 years of operation, KIPP Atlanta Schools has educated thousands of students and supports over 1,000 alumni in college, career, and beyond.
  • Embedding ACT Prep Into the School Day
Last fall, KIPP ATL launched its effort to provide every junior with daily test prep. This included implementing the MasteryPrep Curriculum and Practice Testing & Analysis for the ACT to reinforce test-taking skills. 

Even before the 2024-25 school year kicked off, MasteryPrep was on site, working with school leaders, teachers, and staff to learn the routines, values, and culture of KIPP ATL. This pre-launch immersion helped make the program feel like an organic extension of the school’s existing academic program, rather than a one-size-fits-all intervention, according to Emu.

“MasteryPrep made it easy to scaffold prep into what we were already doing,” Emu says. “We weren’t reinventing the wheel. We were giving teachers a resource they could run with.”

Throughout the school year, students completed thousands of ACT-style questions, building stamina, comfort with test structure, and confidence in the build-up to test day.

  • On-the-Ground MasteryPrep Instructors
Two MasteryPrep instructors were on site at KIPP Atlanta Collegiate to lead the initiative: Stacie Duck taught ACT prep daily to all juniors throughout the year, while Delight Moore delivered a semester-long ACT course to sophomores.

ACT prep instructors worked closely with KIPP Forward Instructors to provide tools and resources to help scholars improve their scores. They shared materials with core instructors, including workbooks with ACT standards, and access to the MasteryPrep platform allowed for targeted practice questions.

“They were here every day, faithfully,” Emu says. “They became part of our team. Students saw them as core educators, not guests. They knew our scholars’ names, their stories, their goals.” The instructors were fully integrated into the school community, making an effort to learn and adopt KIPP Atlanta’s culture to support their students best.

“Students should see themselves as scholars,” Emu says. “And Ms. Duck and Ms. Moore adopted that language from day one.”

  • The Culture Behind Success
KIPP ATL’s ACT prep model succeeded by building on values that aligned with the school’s mission and culture. Several key choices made the difference:
  • Built into the schedule: ACT prep became part of students’ regular day, removing barriers like after-school conflicts and test fatigue.
  • Culturally affirming: MasteryPrep instructors echoed KIPP ATL’s language, always referring to students as “scholars.”
  • Data-driven: Regular practice testing enabled instructors and students to monitor growth and adjust instruction in real time.

MasteryPrep also provided data reporting and progress-monitoring tools that allowed school leaders to identify student trends and target supports long before the official ACT testing dates.

  • Signs of Progress
Internal benchmarks already show promising gains. Juniors in Ms. Duck’s class demonstrated steady growth throughout the year, based on in-class formative assessments and practice test performance. Meanwhile, sophomores in Ms. Moore’s course showed measurable improvement from their beginning-of-year Pre-ACT scores to final assessments, particularly in English and Math subscores.

But the impact goes far beyond quantitative metrics. More students are taking ownership of their learning, tracking their own scores, and setting personal goals. As part of their final projects, sophomores completed self-reflections on their ACT experience, academic growth, and future plans.

“That ownership piece is so important,” Emu says. “Students can articulate their trajectory now. They know where they are and where they’re headed.”

Students who may have previously felt intimidated by college entrance exams are now approaching them with clarity and confidence.

“They were here every day, faithfully. They became part of our team. Students saw them as core educators, not guests. They knew our scholars’ names, their stories, their goals.”

Atua Emu
Director of Post-Secondary Counseling
KIPP Atlanta Collegiate
  • Supporting Teachers to Maximize Impact
Alongside embedded student instruction, KIPP plans to leverage MasteryPrep Professional Development to ensure long-term sustainability. In the 2025-26 school year, teachers across all content areas will participate in MasteryPrep-led training to align ACT skills with core standards and integrate test prep strategies into their day-to-day instruction.

“It’s one thing to hand teachers a workbook. It’s another to equip them with strategies and show them how to integrate prep into their classes without losing rigor,” Emu says.

This approach builds confidence among teachers and will cultivate buy-in across departments, from math and English to science and even electives. With the right training and tools, every teacher can contribute to the school’s college readiness mission.

“When you walk into different classrooms, you should hear teachers referencing ACT-style questions and critical thinking prompts aligned to the test,” Emu says. “It won’t just happen in an ACT class. It will happen everywhere.”

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  • Preparing Students for More Than a Test

According to the ACT’s Condition of College and Career Readiness report, only 1 in 5 students nationwide met all four college readiness benchmarks in 2023. That number is even lower for students from historically underserved communities. For KIPP Atlanta, that statistic underscores the urgency of their work.

“We can’t wait until junior year to start preparing students for college entrance exams,” Emu says. “We have to start building that readiness, both academically and culturally, much earlier, and keep it going every single day.”

When students receive consistent, high-quality test preparation, they boost scores while gaining confidence, a sense of academic identity, and tangible access to post-secondary opportunities. Beyond scores, Emu says the greater success has been helping students truly see themselves as college-bound.

“There’s a shift that happens when students feel like they’re being prepared and when they see test prep not as punishment, but as investment,” Emu says. “It changes what they think is possible for themselves.”

Emu’s advice for other educators: “Make it a priority. Not just the test, but the idea that every student deserves access to college and every teacher has a role in helping them get there.”

Unpaid testimonial. Individual results may vary, and testimonials are not claimed to represent typical results.

ACT® is the registered trademark of ACT Education Corp. Some items in MasteryPrep programs are the copyrighted content of ACT Education Corp. and are reproduced with permission.

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Picture of About the Author: Onalee Smith
About the Author: Onalee Smith

Onalee Smith is a content marketer and writer with over 15 years of experience helping brands tell better stories. She specializes in editorial strategy and SEO-driven content that connects with audiences and drives measurable results. Her work spans industries including education, publishing, and professional services. Onalee began her career marketing children’s and young adult literature, collaborating with bestselling authors and national literacy programs. Today, she partners with mission-driven organizations to craft content that informs and inspires. She holds degrees in Editing, Writing, and Media Studies, as well as International Affairs, from Florida State University. Based in Asheville, North Carolina, she enjoys hiking, spending time with her pets, and pursuing her hobby of floral design.

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ACT® is the registered trademark of ACT, Inc. Some items in MasteryPrep programs are the copyrighted content of ACT, Inc. and are reproduced with permission. SAT® is a trademark of the College Board. MasteryPrep LLC has no affiliation with College Board MasteryPrep SAT programs are not approved or endorsed by College Board. The Texas Success Initiative Assessment 2.0 (TSIA2) is an ACCUPLACER® exam, which is a trademark of College Board. MasteryPrep has no affiliation with College Board or the Texas Success Initiative (TSI), and the TSIA2 Mastery program is not approved or endorsed by College Board or the TSI. WorkKeys® is a registered trademark of ACT, Inc. The WorkKeys programs are not approved or endorsed by ACT, Inc.

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