College Board wanted to enhance services that validate admission and placement policies for colleges and universities.

College Board offers colleges and universities the Admitted Class Evaluation Service™ (ACES)—a highly secure, easy-to-use platform that links student data to College Board test scores, such as ACCUPLACER®, Advanced Placement® (AP), College Level Examination Program® (CLEP), and SAT® exams. ACES produces analytic reports with linked data that validate admission and course placement policies. Colleges and universities can also use it to examine factors that relate to student retention and completion. College Board wanted to modify ACES to make the production of vital analytic reports more secure and more efficient.

NORC redesigned and updated ACES to improve its performance.

College Board partnered with NORC to transform ACES into an integrated data and research services tool. Colleges and universities upload institution data files with student personally identifiable information into ACES to link post-secondary student performance data to College Board test scores. NORC enhanced data security—a top priority for College Board—by housing ACES in the highly secure NORC Data Enclave®. In addition, it improved study submission by developing and applying automated quality assurance reports to institution data files before they are uploaded. NORC also expanded the number of ACES report offerings, adding retention, completion, and year-over-year products.