Missouri’s graduating class of 2015 had an average of 21.7 on the ACT college entrance exam, an overall score that has hardly budged in the last five years, according to results released Wednesday.
The trend is also true for Illinois and across the nation, prompting those in charge of the test to say the lack of progress should be a wake-up call for the country.
“The needle is barely moving on college and career readiness, and that means far too many young people will continue to struggle after they graduate from high school,†said Jon Whitmore, ACT’s chief executive officer.
This was the first year all juniors at Missouri public schools had the opportunity to take the college entrance exam for free, but results released Wednesday won’t reflect that. The 2015 results consist of scores in English, math, reading and science for students who graduated this past spring at both public and private schools.
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Missouri education officials have set a goal for student achievement to rank among the top 10 states by 2020. As part of the effort, the percent of students who achieve a qualifying score or above on a college and career readiness assessment is supposed to increase each year.
On the ACT, the percentage of Missouri students who did not meet benchmarks in English and reading dropped and stayed the same in math. But those who met college benchmarks in all four areas has risen to 30 percent, up from 26 percent in 2011. A benchmark score is the minimum score needed on an ACT subject-area test to indicate a 50 percent chance of earning a B or higher or about a 75 percent chance of obtaining a C or higher in a corresponding credit-bearing college course.
The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education issued a statement saying the department is “pleased that the percent of Missouri students meeting readiness benchmarks continues to exceed national averages on all four measures: English, mathematics, reading and science.â€
The highest possible score for the ACT is a 36. In Illinois, the average composite score stayed the same as 2014 at 20.7. The national average is 21.
Seventy-seven percent of high school graduates in Missouri took the ACT. Missouri’s new requirement for the ACT means it will almost certainly cause a dip in overall scores for the state’s high schools. That’s because it’s generally believed that students who don’t take the ACT on their own have lower performance.
Illinois covered the costs of the ACT for juniors for 14 years, but the class of 2015 was the last to have that requirement. Proponents of the ACT-for-all idea say having everyone take the test paints a more conclusive picture of overall student achievement and may encourage a student to apply for college who otherwise wouldn’t.
College-readiness levels remain weakest among under-served minorities. Black students in Missouri averaged a 17.3 composite score, while white students had a 22.6.
“We’re talking about hundreds of thousands of U.S. high school graduates who won’t earn a two- or four-year college degree because they aren’t academically prepared to do so,†Whitmore said. “We simply must do better."
The state's database allows you to search for the average composite score by and .