Just 26 percent of ACT test-takers are prepared for college

[alp227]

By Emma Brown and Lynh Bui, Published: August 21

Just more than one-quarter of students who took the ACT college entrance exam this year scored high enough in math, reading, English and science to be considered ready for college or a career, data released Wednesday showed.

That figure masks large gaps between student groups — with 43 percent of Asians, but only 5 percent of African Americans — demonstrating college readiness in all four subjects.

The ACT is a competitor of the SAT and is now the most popular college entrance exam in the country, with about 1.8 million graduating seniors taking the test this year. That number accounts for about 54 percent of the nation’s graduating seniors and was an increase from 1.67 million in 2012.

Overall performance on the ACT has remained virtually unchanged since 2009, with the average score falling slightly this year, from 21.1 to 20.9 out of a possible 36 points. The stagnation raises questions about how well schools are preparing students for future success.

“This report demonstrates that we must be honest about our students’ performance and implement higher standards if we’re serious about improving educational outcomes,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in a statement.

full: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/just-26-percent-of-act-test-takers-are-prepared-for-college/2013/08/21/a99fba0e-0a81-11e3-8974-f97ab3b3c677_story.html

See also: A Quarter of High-School Grads Who Took ACT Are Found College-Ready by the Chronicle of Higher Education

[Gidney N Cloyd]

1. On the one hand, that's about what I'm seeing. On the other hand, not much point in...

...looking to Duncan for any solutions.

[QC]

2. Amen. Let's keep Duncan far, far away from the schools. n/t

[Recursion]

14. What % were "prepared" 20 years ago? 40?

We're not told that, so I assume it was the same or worse (since that contradicts the sense of the story; if it backed it up they would have given those numbers).

[Gidney N Cloyd]

16. Anecdotally, having been staff, admin, adjunct at a community college for over 30 years...

...all I can tell you is our incoming traditional-aged students have become steadily less able to handle 100-level English and Math classes. As a result the number of our remedial-level course offerings has gone through the roof.

[dtom67]

3. never quite sure what they mean when they talk about "education"...

I can remember my philosophy professor decrying the change in focus of education from " getting an education " to " getting that union card ". He wasn't bashing unions, he just meant that people were coming to University to train for a career, not to become a well rounded, educated person. A creative writing instructor told us once that in the 70's, you went to college and the Job would just be there when you graduated.You went to school to Learn, not train. Bear in mind, this was 1985 ( more or less ). I'm sure things are even MORE specialized and focused now.
I took the ACT and did not take the SAT. Unless things have changed, the ACT seemed like a test of general knowledge, of the type my professors insisted should be the basis of a good college education.

I think I had a complaint in there somewhere.

Must be getting senile.

What we should be honest about is the role that standard of living has to do with education. Blame the teachers all you want, but if Mom and Dad do not have the money and time to spend at Home, the child is at a huge disadvantage.

That is why closing the wealth gap should be our primary focus; better education, less crime, less teen pregnancies will all improve with a big enough boost in standard of living.

And God bless the Liberal Arts!

[FarCenter]

4. That is probably about the right percent to go on to college.

[liberal_at_heart]

11. This is why our entire way of looking at education is wrong. We are all capable of learning

something. If we allow some of our students who don't qualify for college to just slow down and take their time. Maybe take some remedial classes and learn at their own pace maybe more people would be capable of going to college. I mean why is it if you are not ready for calculus your freshman year, you are not college material? And does our learning really stop when we get out of college? It shouldn't. We should adopt a lifelong approach to learning.

[FarCenter]

15. Learning calculus doesn't require going to college

It is largely a matter of carefully reading and re-reading the textbook, memorizing the theorems and other facts, working the examples yourself so you understand them, and working all the problem sets.

The only advantage of college is that you have a TA or another student to help when you get stuck on a problem, and you have tests that force you to keep doing the work on schedule.

The professor's lectures, if you have a professor, will normally be a recapitulation of the textbook with some personal embellishment. But they also mainly serve to keep you on schedule.

[zbdent]

5. Odd how the low preparedness for college strangely co-incides

with the implementation of the much-maligned "No Child Left Behind" of George W. Bush, eh?

[Recursion]

13. Is this "low"? What was the number in the past?

I don't know about college, but reporters are apparently no longer prepared for journalism, since Brown's only comparison with past data is to note that it's largely unchanged since 2009.

[liberal_at_heart]

6. How much longer are democrats going to ignore the issue of education? That's what I want to know.

Notice how Arne Duncan says we need even higher standards and better student outcomes. In other words, more Race To the Top crap.

[XemaSab]

7. Is anybody *really* prepared to go to college?

The booze... the weed... the hotties... the calculus....

[liberal_at_heart]

8. most colleges want freshman to be ready to take calculus right away.

My daughter is taking intermediate algebra her first semester of her freshman year. There's no way my son will be ready for calculus his freshman year. He is starting 9th grade and isn't ready for algebra yet. But you know what. It doesn't bother me. I believe we all learn at our own rate and for Obama and Arne Duncan to expect all of our kids to be at the same level at the same time is ridiculous. They are setting our kids up to fail. My autistic son is about two years behind his peers. According to national expectations my son would be a failure, but when he is 20 he will probably have all the same capacities of those who are 18. So maybe he starts college at 20 instead of 18. Big deal.

[pnwmom]

10. You are right. Not all college students are going to be scientists or engineers.

They're the ones who need to start out with calculus.

[pnwmom]

9. Does this include students who take the test as juniors, too?

They have another two or three semester of preparation ahead of them.

[Recursion]

12. Sounds about right; 25% of Americans or so have college degrees