More Hispanic high-school students were prepared for college in 2006 than they were just four years earlier, according to a report released today by ACT, the nonprofit organization that administers the ACT test.

Hispanic high-school graduates who took the college-admissions test in 2006 had, on average, higher combined scores than those who took it in 2002, and they also scored higher, on average, in each of the test’s subject areas — English, mathematics, reading, and science. More students also met the test’s benchmarks for college readiness.

The average scores increased even as 19,026 more Hispanic students took the ACT in 2006 than in 2002. The organization’s chief competitor, the College Board, has said that average combined scores on its SAT test have gone down in the last couple of years because of the increasing number and diversity of test-takers. The average combined scores on the ACT test, however, have increased over the last few years, even though a record 1.3 million students took it in 2007.

Today’s report also looked at the college readiness of Hispanic students who took the ACT’s assessment tests for younger students. Eighth graders increased their average math scores, while high-school sophomores improved their average scores in all four subject areas. —Elyse Ashburn