ACT's Low College Readiness Rate Foreshadows Common Core Shock
Posted: 08/21/2013 3:00 am EDT | Updated: 08/21/2013 6:55 am EDT
Only one-quarter of high school seniors who took the ACT college admissions test this year scored high enough to be considered ready for college or the workforce.
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan called the finding "truly disturbing" in a statement to The Huffington Post. "This report demonstrates that we must be honest about our students’ performance and implement higher standards if we’re serious about improving educational outcomes," he said.
A report released Wednesday by the company that makes the ACT said 54 percent of 2013 high school graduates took the test. The ACT, a competitor to the SAT, measures college readiness on four benchmarks: English, reading, science and mathematics. 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.
The results have been roughly the same since 2009. "We haven't made any significant
