Florida’s ACT scores improve but still lag rest of US

This year’s crop of Wisconsin high school graduates maintained the state’s No. 2 standing in average composite score for the ACT college entrance exam, according to the Department of Public Instruction.

The chart shows the minimum scores needed on the ACT subject tests to indicate a 50 percent chance of earning a B or higher or a 75 percent chance of earning a C or higher in credit-bearing first-year college classes.

“The needle is barely moving on college and career readiness, and that means far too many young people will continue to struggle after they graduate from high school”, ACT CEO Jon Whitmore said in a statement.

– Asian students outperformed all other ethnic groups in math and science, with 69 percent of Asian students taking the ACT meeting its college readiness standard in math and 57 percent in science. “This should be a wake-up call for our nation”. (Search our database for 2014 district and high school results.) Scores for 2015 will be released this fall along with CMAS and PARCC testing results. Of them, black students achieved an average 16.3 composite score and Hispanic students averaged 19.4. Participation might be up in Louisiana and other states – a record 1.9 million students nationwide were tested in 2015 – but pass rates are still too low, ACT’s chief executive said. Black students in Missouri averaged a 17.3 composite score, while white students had a 22.6.

But ACT spokesman Ed Colby said, “Some of the initiatives aimed at raising the bar probably have not kicked in yet, but our concern is that we’re still not realizing the on-the-ground effort that is necessary for strong growth”. Less than 20 percent of students who meet none of the benchmarks will graduate from a two- or four-year college. The majority of students who took the test, 53 percent, were white.

Forty-two percent of the state’s students and 46 percent nationally met or exceeded the 22 score on the reading exam that is necessary to be considered college ready. In science, the average score rose to 20.6, up from 20.5 the year before.

About 130,800 Florida students who graduated in 2015 took the ACT, or about 79 percent of the senior class. Results from the current 2400-point version of the SAT, given to the Class of 2015, are expected to be released in early September. The loss in funding meant the ACT will no longer be a graduation requirement. No benchmarks were met by 45 percent of Mississippi students overall.

Citing the lack of progress, ACT officials urged policymakers, educators, students and parents to do their part to improve the results.

The ACT bills itself as a “curriculum-based achievement test” that predicts student performance in first-year college courses. That’s one of the suggestions in a new report issued today by ACT, Inc., the nonprofit organization behind the test. “In the increasingly competitive job market, where decent jobs are requiring more advanced skills and training, this is a huge problem”.

In Virginia, about 25,000 took the test, with an average score of 23.1.