Barely Half of High-School Students Who Took the ACT Had College-Ready Reading Skills

By ERIC HOOVER

Only 51 percent of last year's high-school graduates who took the ACT examination had the reading skills they needed to succeed in college or job-training programs, said a report released last week.

Twenty-one percent of black students, 33 percent of Hispanic students, and 33 percent of students from families with annual incomes below $30,000 were prepared for college-level reading, the report said.

The study, which was done by ACT Inc., a nonprofit testing organization, is