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Only 26 percent of students who took the test met all four benchmarks. Sixty-four percent hit the English goal, 44 percent made the mark in reading, 44 percent ranked in mathematics and 36 percent reached the science benchmark.
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<p>The full report is The</a> Condition of College & Career Readiness 2013.</p>
<p>While this 26% readiness statistic is eye-catching to me, I have several friends who teach in the public schools who are not at all surprised. I would love to hear the comments of colleges profs who teach freshman.</p>
<p>And yet…according to the BLS…66.2% of 2012 HS seniors were enrolled in a college or university…</p>
<p>[College</a> Enrollment and Work Activity of 2012 High School Graduates](<a href=“http://www.bls.gov/news.release/hsgec.nr0.htm]College”>http://www.bls.gov/news.release/hsgec.nr0.htm)</p>
<p>Now…THAT is whole math.</p>
<p>No surprise – look at the extensive offerings of remedial courses in most colleges.</p>
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<p>Probably the intent. (bolded text in the original)</p>
<p>According to the ACT I was not college ready (specifically in Reading and Science). I’m through 3 years of college, I think I’m doing fine. Though I haven’t taken any Literature/Language/English/Heavy Reading classes, and only one science class (orgo - which I only got ‘B’ in) so maybe I haven’t taken the appropriate sample of classes. But as long as I end up with the degree and a job I think I’m okay. </p>
<p>I don’t think there’s any reason to think that everyone has to be “college ready” in every subject to be “college ready.” If you’re going to Math or Philosophy, does your Science score matter? If you’re going to study Biology or Psychology, does your Math score matter? Not everyone is good at everything, and no one has to be.</p>
<p>UCB: Original corrected due to errors and change of mind. It’s called typing faster than thinking…But hey…</p>
<p>It’s easy to disagree, but difficult for some not to become disagreeable while doing so.</p>
<p>I think we can and should be doing better, especially since this report covers only students taking the ACT.</p>
<p>Interesting about the Common Core. Apparently most people are not aware:
[Poll:</a> Most Americans unfamiliar with new Common Core teaching standards - The Washington Post](<a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/poll-most-americans-unfamiliar-with-new-common-core-teaching-standards/2013/08/20/ffacc0d6-09b9-11e3-8974-f97ab3b3c677_story.html]Poll:”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/poll-most-americans-unfamiliar-with-new-common-core-teaching-standards/2013/08/20/ffacc0d6-09b9-11e3-8974-f97ab3b3c677_story.html)</p>
<p>Is anyone else bothered that they intend to use a test that gets re-centered periodically for college readiness?</p>
<p>I teach incoming freshmen. Not surprised. It’s also nothing new. Those stats have held pretty steady.</p>
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<p>There are specific scores that designate college readiness, and they vary by subject. If it’s reentered they can just adjust the college readiness scores. However, I question their standards.</p>
<p>I don’t know why we even discuss these things. The colleges are accepting these sub-21 scoring students, enrolling these students and taking their tuition money. Do you really think colleges are going to stop and say “no you don’t meet the minimum criteria.” </p>
<p>Also I don’t believe it’s the ACT that is being recentered…the SAT has been recentered and now the College Board is talking about making the SAT align more with common core material. I think the ACT hasn’t been changed in a long long time. I think people are confusing the two. SAT has tracked something they call a benchmark score which is supposed predictive of college success according to College Board.</p>
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You go to Michigan, right? Did you start at CC and transfer?</p>
<p>Momof3, both have been recentered, though the SAT more recently. [A</a> (Mostly) Brief History Of The SAT And ACT Tests](<a href=“http://www.erikthered.com/tutor/sat-act-history.html]A”>A (Mostly) Brief History Of The SAT And ACT Tests) My question was why would you use something that moves as your baseline but that’s been answered.</p>
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<p>I went to Michigan right out of high school, left and went to CC for a semester + a summer to save some money, and then went back. But they admitted me right out of high school. I had good scores in Math and English which bumped up my composite score, though still quite a bit below average for the school.</p>
<p>The 26% figure is arbitrary, depending on how you define college readiness. It seems ACT requires to following scores for “college readiness”:</p>
<p>English : 18
Reading: 21
Math : 22
Science: 24</p>
<p>Considering the higher science score, it is not surprising that science is the limiting factor. The article mentioned that 64% met english requirement of 18, but only 36% met science requirement of 24. I believe ACT chose these limits based on the minimum score for which the majority received grades a B or higher in corresponding college classes. </p>
<p>These definitions are somewhat circular. For example, if HS students suddenly become experts in all areas, and ACT scores jumped to the point where everyone scored 30+, then we’d find a score of well above 30 was required for the majority to get Bs or better since colleges as a whole are going to give well below 100% of the student body grades of B or better. If you assume a large portion of the lower percentile scoring students are not entering college and/or not taking science classes, then it will lead to setting the college readiness majority B standard high enough to make a large percentage not “college ready.”</p>
<p>That is interesting, for some reason I thought college readiness was a composite of 21. In my opinion the truly college ready score around 25 on the composite tilted one way or the other depending on their strengths.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that the ACT is not just administered to those students who intend on pursuing higher education. In some states, including my own, it is administered to all high school students as part of statewide standard testing, even if the student has zero intention of going to college. In that regard it’s different from the SAT. I am not aware of any states or districts that require all students regardless of college intent to take the SAT – are there any?</p>
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<p>Maine requires all high school students to take the SAT and an additional statewide science test. They’re the only one.</p>
<p>Pizza, yes, everyone in Michigan takes it and the mean in Michigan is 19 which is why I thought college readiness was 21 as a minimum Mine are not super tippy top accelerated kids, but took the ACT in 7th grade for the Northwestern Center for Talent program and scored I think 18-19 composite range not even having taken Algebra. It would seem strange to send them ‘off to college’ at that point and I certainly didn’t think they were “college ready.”</p>