ACES: The Original Forms
The Academic Competence Evaluation Scales are brief questionnaires designed to assess important skills, attitudes, and behaviors contributing to school success.
There are teacher, student, and college versions of the ACES, and each assesses a student’s academic skills and academic enablers. Academic skills include reading and language, mathematics, and critical thinking. Academic enablers include motivation, engagement, study skills, and interpersonal skills.
The ACES assist with problem identification, intervention planning, and evaluation for students experiencing academic difficulty in K-12 or post-secondary settings. Each form requires less than 15 minutes to complete and can be scored quickly by hand.
For Educators in K-12 Settings
Teacher Form
The ACES-Teacher Form (ACES-TF) is appropriate for assessing the skills of students in kindergarten through high school. The ACES-TF measures a student’s academic skills (reading and language, mathematics, and critical thinking) and academic enablers (motivation, engagement, study skills, and interpersonal skills). The questionnaire includes 73 brief items that teachers complete using a 5-point response scale. Teachers typically can respond to all questions in 12 minutes or less. The form also includes a worksheet that psychologists, support teachers, and intervention teams can use to prioritize target skills, plan interventions, and evaluate outcomes.
For Grades 6-12
Student Form
The ACES-Student Form (ACES-SF) is a self-report questionnaire for students in middle and high school (Grades 6-12). The ACES-SF provides an opportunity for a student to reflect upon and identify their academic strengths and areas for improvement. The student form measures the same skills, attitudes, and behaviors as the ACES-Teacher, and it includes 68 brief questions that students typically can complete in 10-12 minutes.
For University Settings
Student Form
The ACES-College Form (ACES-CF) is a self-report questionnaire for students who are attending college or technical school. The ACES-CF measures a student’s academic skills (reading and language, mathematics, and critical thinking) and academic enablers (motivation, engagement, study skills, and interpersonal skills).The ACES-CF includes 66 brief questions that students typically can complete in 10-12 minutes. The form also includes a worksheet to help identify learning and self-management strategies that help students succeed in college settings.