ACT released the results of this year’s tests of high school graduates in math, science, English, and reading this week (press release here). The change from last year is minor, with a tiny drop in scores, although the absolute result is, as usual, disappointing.
The average composite score for the class of 2008 was 21.1, while last year it was 21.2. The score is intended to measure college readiness in the subject, “college readiness” being defined as the likelihood of a student earning “C” or better in a first-year college course. In math, 43 percent reached college readiness; in reading 53 percent, in science 28 percent, and in English 68 percent. The first three remained the same from the previous year, while English dropped one percentage point. Only 22 percent of test-takers met college readiness benchmarks in all four areas.
Some of the demographic breakdowns:
Males beat females on the composite score 21.2 to 21.0.
Composite scores by race: African American 16.9, Native American 19, white 22.1, Hispanic 18.7, Asian 22.9.
The most important change from last year, however, is in the number of students taking the exam. Fully 1.42 million kids sat in, which marks a nine percent jump from last year and a 21 percent jump from 2004. The tally makes up 43 percent of all high school graduates across the country. With the gain in test takers and only a microscopic drop in college readiness, ACT claims that more teens than ever before are prepared to enter college successfully, although others wonder whether the rise in test-takers isn’t due to more strong students taking both the SAT and the ACT (whereas before they only took the SAT—see the story here).
Of course, this also means that more students taking the exam are, precisely, not college ready. And with more than 90 percent of high school students stating that they plan to continue on to post-secondary education (see here), colleges should gear up for more remediation every semester.
