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8/26/2016 TAB

TAB's Daily Message for Aug. 26, College Ready?

Are our students ready for success after high school.  There is growing evidence that they are not. 

Bill Hammond
CEO

http://patch.com/texas/downtownaustin/act-scores-suggest-fewer-graduates-demonstrate-college-readiness-texas

ACT Scores Suggest Fewer Graduates Demonstrate College Readiness In Texas, Nationally

Testing officials blame dip on greater number of students testing, but in Texas just 46 percent of students took the ACT.

By Tony Cantu (Patch Staff) - August 25, 2016 9:29 pm ET ?

AUSTIN, TX -- By one measure released Wednesday -- results of the college admission test known as ACT -- this year's crop of high school graduates nationwide are less likely to demonstrate college readiness than last year.

The national average composite score was 20.8, out of a maximum 36. That's down from 21 in 2015 based on the same scale from 1 to 36. Among Texas students taking the test, the composite score was 20.6, according to the newly released data from ACT officials.

ACT officials attributed this year's slight dip to a larger pool of seniors taking the test from last year. Nearly 2.1 million graduating seniors took the test this year -- an all-time high. The level amounted to roughly 64 percent of 2016 grads, up from 59 percent who took the test last year.

“This year’s ACT-tested class is more representative of the student population than any we’ve ever had,” ACT Chief Executive Officer Marten Roorda said in a prepared statement. “We have likely added many more underrepresented students who may not have been preparing to go to college. In a situation such as this, it’s not at all surprising that overall achievement levels went down.”

Back in Texas, the national report card revealed specific details on statewide testing that sheds light on the results. Just 46 percent of the Class of 2016 was tested toward achieving the ultimate 20.6 average composite score.

Only 18 other regions had a lower percentage of test takers than Texas -- the District of Columbia coming below the Lone Star State at 44 percent participation with Maine coming in last with only 10 percent of graduating students tested.

Still, both the District of Columbia and Maine posted higher composite scores than Texas, averages of 22.2 and 23.6, respectively.

ACT officials broke down the results according to four areas of study -- English, Reading, Math and Science. For Texas, those results were:

•57 percent of students met the benchmark for English;
•43 percent met the benchmark for Reading;
•42 percent met the benchmark for Math;
•35 percent met the benchmark for Science.

In terms of average composite score, Texas students fared better than their counterparts in the four neighboring states -- Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico and Oklahoma -- although the percentage of students testing ranged from a low of 70 percent to 100 percent.

With its 20.6 average composite score, Texas bested the four adjacent states: Arkansas had a 20.2 average composite score with 96 percent of graduates tested; Louisiana, 19.5 with 100 percent testing. Oklahoma, 20.4, 82 percent testing; and New Mexico, 19.9 with 70 percent of its Class of 2016 tested.

The raw data of the ACT report yielded some interesting insights. Among the highlights:

•The number of ACT-tested graduates increased by 8.6 percent compared to last year, from 1,924,436 graduates in 2015 to 2,090,342 graduates in 2016.
•Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of all 2016 U.S. high school graduates took the ACT, up from 59 percent last year and from 40 percent in 2006. "As a result, this year's data are based on a more representative sample of the nation's graduating class than ever before," ACT officials wrote in the report.
•The number of under-served students taking the ACT test has increased significantly since 2012, most dramatically among Hispanic students (up by 44 percent) and African American students (up by 23 percent). "Despite these increases," ACT officials noted, "the average ACT composite score for African American students remained steady, and the average score for Hispanic students dropped by just 0.2 points."

Not everyone sees the ACT as the best bellwether of students' future college success. A growing chorus of detractors point to the standardized admission test's limitations in critiquing its effectiveness.

Both the ACT and SAT are "highly problematic" as tools in the admissions process, Scott L. Thomas, the dean of the school of education studies at Claremont Graduate University in California, told Education Week in a September 2015 article. The SAT test is the other widely used college admissions test used in the United States, first introduced in 1926.

To buttress his point, Thomas pointed to research "...showing that students' high school grades and the rigor of the courses they take in high school are the best predictors of college grades," the article states.

Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and past governor of West Virginia, agrees with the assessment, he told Education Week. Given the tests' limitations, "...there could be a shift to relying on digital portfolios as educators look to build students' creativity, collaboration and deeper-learning skills," according to the Education Week article.

"My belief is that technology will quickly transform the assessment process," Wise told Education Week, noting that more than 850 colleges already have made admissions tests optional for applicants."I think within 10 years, certainly, we are going to see a far different measurement service or assessment than simply a one-day test that we spend weeks getting our kids ready for and lots money for test preparation."