ACT scores show many grads not ready for college-level work

Alabama students trailed behind the national average when it came to college readiness, according to ACT. In 2016, 24,488 Kansas students took the ACT, an increase of 780 students over 2015.

When partial ACT data for Nevada was released in July, Canavero praised Gov. Brian Sandoval and the Legislature for approving and funding improvements to the state’s school system a year ago that are just now being implemented.

“They’re not acceptable. I know we can do better”, state superintendent Steve Canavero said about the scores, which fell below those of other bottom-performing states including MS and SC. Between 2012 and 2016, the number of students who took the test increased 2.4 percent.

Twenty-two percent of students who took the exam hit the college-prepared benchmark in the four core subjects tested – reading, English, math and science. “However, colleges and universities increasingly recognize that ACT scores are neither accurate nor fair measures of higher education readiness”.

The lowest average score was 17.7 in Nevada, where the participation rate was described as 100 percent. Many colleges use the composite in admissions.

More specifically, as many as 57.2 percent of 2015 graduates met college readiness standards set by the Council on Postsecondary Education. The Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Exam (WKCE) was replaced by the Badger Exam in the 2014-15 school year.

MI had 80 students in the 2016 class who earned the top score of 36.

Carey Wright, state superintendent of education, said the score increases are encouraging and should prompt educators to continue to challenge high school students in their course work.

The majority (57 percent) of 2016 graduates took the ACT test only once.

“This year’s ACT-tested class is more representative of the student population than any we’ve ever had”, said ACT Chief Executive Officer Marten Roorda.

The number of IL students tested has decreased from 160,066 in 2013 to 156,403 in 2016, which could influence scores, depending on circumstances.

Only 11 percent of the 32,261 students scored high enough to be considered ready for college-level courses, according to ACT scores released Wednesday. The class of 2016 represented the first students subjected to the graduation requirement. The test is split into four parts – English, reading, math and science.

2016 ACT results also brought positive news in the area of equity.

“The ACT is an important gauge of college and career readiness for our students, and these results are tremendous news”.

Now which state looks like it is performing better for its students? “We have to focus on the needs of each student”. “I know our state can do better”, Canavero said.