This year, a record-high percentage of high-school graduates who took the ACT met all four of the exam’s college-readiness benchmarks—although the average composite score dipped slightly.
Twenty-four percent of the class of 2010 met all ACT College Readiness Benchmarks, which measure proficiency in English, mathematics, reading, and science. Each benchmark has a different cutoff score, which is intended to show whether a student is likely to pass certain first-year courses with a C or higher.
This year, a lower proportion of students met the reading and English benchmarks than in 2009, while a greater percentage passed math and science. Over all, the percentage meeting all four benchmarks rose 1 percentage point from last year, even as the pool of test-takers expanded and widened to include more minorities.
About 1.57 million graduating seniors took the test, up 6 percent from last year. The number of Hispanic test-takers has nearly doubled since 2006, from fewer than 86,000 to nearly 158,000 students.
“Even as the population is becoming more diverse, we’re seeing positive movement toward more kids being college and career ready,” said Cynthia B. Schmeiser, president and chief operating officer of the ACT’s education division.
However, the national composite ACT score, which averages performance on all test components, dipped to 21 this year from 21.1 last year. The test, which is designed to assess high-school academic preparation, is scored on a scale of 1 to 36.
Ms. Schmeiser said the increasing diversity of the ACT-tested population likely contributed to the drop. “Our test-taking population has grown by 30 percent in the last five years and now includes virtually all students in eight states, many of whom might not have considered taking a college- and career-readiness assessment years ago,” she said.
Not only did the average composite score drop, but the vast majority of ACT-tested high schoolers also did not pass all four college-readiness benchmarks. Robert A. Schaeffer, public-education director of the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, said that failure rate indicates that there is something wrong with the test, not with the students.
“The standards are arbitrary, and clearly a higher percentage of ACT test-takers are going to college and succeeding than these statistics would suggest,” he said.
Further, he said the data are not statistically significant because the year-to-year changes are so minimal.
Ms. Schmeiser, however, argues that the ACT report reveals data that educators and policy makers should consider. According to the report, most students interested in entering the fastest-growing fields in the economy tested as academically unprepared to work and study in those areas. For example, most prospective students in computer and information specialties failed to reach benchmarks in math and science.
Racial Achievement Gaps
The report also found that racial achievement gaps on the ACT have widened since 2006. As the average composite score of whites and Asians increased by 0.3 points and 1.1 points respectively, the average score of African-Americans declined 0.2 points.
There is a large disparity between the average ACT scores of various ethnic groups. This year, the average score was 23.4 among Asians; 22.3 among whites; 19 among American Indians; 18.6 among Hispanics; and 16.9 among African-Americans.
Ms. Schmeiser said the score differences are partly caused by disparities in high-school course work. ACT studies have demonstrated a correlation between students’ subject-test scores and the number of years they took courses in that subject, and many minorities take fewer courses than their peers, Ms. Schmeiser said.
“When minorities take rigorous core courses, they meet the benchmarks in significantly higher numbers,” she said.
Regardless of the reason, Mr. Schaeffer said, this racial inequality is unacceptable. “Certainly, a rise in the racial score gap is not what the nation is striving for,” he said. “This suggests that No Child Left Behind is not living up to its promise.”