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Few Students Are Ready for College Coursework, ACT Says

August 17, 2011

HOME: Almanac 2011	SECTIONS: Finance	The Profession	Student Demographics
	Access and Equity	Technology	International

A minority of high-school students who took the ACT college-entrance exam and graduated in 2011 met the ACT’s minimum scores for college readiness in all four of these core areas: English, mathematics, reading, and science. Hispanic and black students were especially likely to be underprepared according to this measure.

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HOME: Almanac 2011	SECTIONS: Finance	The Profession	Student Demographics
	Access and Equity	Technology	International

Percent of students deemed ready, 2011
	English	Mathematics	Reading	Science	All four areas
Asian	76%	71%	62%	46%	41%
White	77%	54%	62%	37%	31%
All students	66%	45%	52%	30%	25%
Two or more races	68%	41%	53%	28%	22%
Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander	55%	36%	39%	19%	15%
American Indian/Alaska Native	47%	25%	36%	15%	11%
Hispanic/Latino	47%	30%	35%	15%	11%
Black/African-American	35%	14%	21%	6%	4%
Note: The ACT designated as ready high-school students who met minimum benchmark scores on its subject-area tests. Those scores were set to indicate a 50-percent chance of obtaining a grade of B or higher or about a 75-percent chance of obtaining a C or higher in a credit-bearing college course requiring skills in that subject area.

Average scores on the ACT by sex and race/ethnicity, 2011
	English	Mathematics	Reading	Science	Composite score	Change since 2007 in composite score
Men	20.2	21.6	21.1	21.4	21.2	n/a
Women	20.9	20.6	21.4	20.5	21.0	n/a
Asian	22.8	25.1	22.9	23.1	23.6	1.0
White	22.1	22.1	22.7	22.1	22.4	0.3
Two or more races	20.7	20.7	21.6	20.9	21.1	0.1
Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander	18.6	19.9	19.4	19.5	19.5	n/a
Hispanic/Latino	17.6	19.2	18.9	18.8	18.7	0.0
American Indian/Alaska Native	17.5	18.6	19.1	18.9	18.6	-0.3
Black/African-American	15.9	17.2	17.0	17.1	17.0	0.0
Prefer not to respond/No response	20.2	20.9	21.0	20.4	20.7	-1.0
All students	20.6	21.1	21.3	20.9	21.1	-0.1
Note: The ACT exam is scored on a scale from 1 to 36. The designation “n/a” means data were not available.
Source: ACT