“They need to take a rigorous set of classes”.
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Average ACT scores for the Class of 2015 barely budged in English, math, reading and science, while writing scores in Illinois and the nation dipped to the lowest in a decade, suggesting that many graduates may have a tough time with college-level writing assignments.
The benchmark score means the student has a good chance of getting a C or better in a corresponding college course. Students must have a 19 composite score to be eligible for the Arkansas Challenge Scholarship, which is funded largely by the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery. Against all states, it ranks 48th in composite score – beating only Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina and Hawaii – and 19th in growth. That was up from 19 percent for the Class of 2014. The gap between the state and nation widened on the English test because the national result improved from 20.3 to 20.4.
The gains were less significant in math, White said. The SAT remains dominant in the nation’s most populous state.
A ideal ACT score is 36 – attained in 2015 by 15 Nebraska students, or less than a tenth of a percent. Those minimum scores are the ACT’s college readiness “benchmarks”. Nationwide, 28% of the students were college ready. Black students in Missouri averaged a 17.3 composite score, while white students had a 22.6.
It also reported that students who participate in high-school activities (but not too many of them) tend to do better on the test. An optimal number of activities was about four.
This was the first year all juniors at Missouri public schools had the opportunity to take the college entrance exam for free, but results released Wednesday won’t reflect that. That’s in contrast to fifth-, seventh- and 10th-grade science tests in the past.
“It’s just been the same old, same old”, ACT President Jon Erickson said of the test results.
The study looked at the 1.9 million students in the 2015 graduating class who took the ACT. Hispanic students were 27 percent of test takers.
About 73 percent of Wisconsin graduates took the exam compared to 59 percent nationally. Montana equaled the Arkansas score. The highest score on the four-subject exam is a 36. That’s about 41 percent of the Class of 2015.
The numbers of test-takers in Arkansas increased by 134 over the past year.
“The answer is possibly”, Jones said. When fewer take a test, average scores often rise. Maybe they didn’t see themselves as college bound. More than 57,000 students took the test.
“It is a door opener for some kids, either to get into college or more importantly to qualify for some kind of financial assistance”, Pritchett said. The ACT is billed as an achievement test, measuring whether students have mastered core subjects in high school. “We’re excited about that potential”. “We have shown through this report that we can compete, and that progress is real when you establish high standards and stand behind those standards”.
A third of Colorado students didn’t meet the benchmarks in any subject.
The ACT tests English, reading, math, and science.
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Overall, the average composite ACT score was 21, unchanged from the previous year. The number of black test-takers increased from 4,452 to 4,540. The share of high school graduates who met three out of four benchmarks has changed little in the past five years. “In the increasingly competitive job market, where decent jobs are requiring more advanced skills and training, this is a huge problem”.
