<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>