Arkansas’ high school Class of 2013 earned an average composite score of 20.2 on the 36-point ACT college entrance exam, by far the most common admissions test used in the state.
A total of 25,875 recent state high school graduates - about 90 percent of the 2013 class - took the test at least once. That’s up from about 88 percent a year ago. Arkansas is one of 12 states in which 90 percent or more of the graduates took the test in mathematics, reading, science and English.
Nationally, about 54 percent of recent graduates took the test, earning an average composite score of 20.9 on the test that is designed to measure the knowledge deemed necessary for success in first-year college courses.
ACT organization leaders warned that on the basis of the test results, the average student is not well-prepared for college.
Arkansas education leaders said Tuesday that state and national composite results include for the first time this year the scores of students who received extra test-taking time to accommodate their special needs. As a result, comparisons of this year’s results with those results in past years are not “apples-to-apples comparisons,” a state education leader said Tuesday.
“There were 692 students that were in the graduating class of 2013 who were given those accommodations,” Arkansas Education Commissioner Tom Kimbrell said Tuesday. ” If you take those students and their scores out, our composite …. would have been 20.4.”
That 20.4 would be an increase over the 2012 test-takers’ composite score of 20.3.
“I understand why they want to report that now and it needs to be reported, and those students who need accommodations need the opportunity to see what their aptitude is,” Kimbrell said about the students provided with extra test-taking time. “It is an anomaly this year because it affects the statewide composite.”
National results also were affected, Kimbrell said.
Subtracting from this year’s national summary the scores of some 72,200 students who were given accommodations would have resulted in a composite score of 21 instead of the reported 20.9, he said. Last year, the reported national composite was 21.1.
“I think our teachers are expecting more of our students, and our students are beginning to understand the importance” of the test, Kimbrell said. “If they want a post secondary educational opportunity - this test is a big deal. And they don’t have to waste money going into noncredit [remedial] courses when they enter college.”
Arkansas students who score below 19 on the ACT English and math sections must take noncredit remedial courses in those subjects upon enrolling in Arkansas colleges and universities.
Kimbrell and Shane Broadway, the interim director of the Arkansas Department of Higher Education, met last week with ACT officials to get an explanation of the summary results.
Broadway said Tuesday that he has asked for the 2013 results for students provided accommodations to better determine the state’s performance trends and areas in need of improvement.
“We want to encourage more students to take the exams and take it more than once,” Broadway said. “We always know we have more work to do but, if you compare apples to apples, we have a pretty good trend going.”
The ACT’s annual report, released today and titled, “The Condition of College & Career Readiness 2013,” concluded that a majority of state and national test-takers remain “ill-prepared” for success at the college and career level.
That’s because average scores in the specific subject areas fall short of the “ACT College Readiness Benchmarks” - an 18 in English, 22 in reading, 22 in math and 23 in science.
Students who meet the benchmark in a subject have a 75 percent chance of earning a C grade or better in the first-year college course in the corresponding subject. As a result, those students are more likely to stay in college and earn a degree, according to ACT research.
In Arkansas, only one in five test-takers in the 2013 graduating class - 20 percent compared with 26 percent nationally - met the ACT benchmarks in all four tested subjects.
Another 12 percent of Arkansas test-takers met the benchmarks in three of the four subjects, while 16 percent met benchmarks in two subjects and 19 percent met the mark in one area.
One in three Arkansas test-takers met none of the benchmarks in any subject area. The same was true for 31 percent of the test-takers nationally.
That was a concern to ACT leaders.
“Too many students are likely to struggle after they graduate from high school, said Jon Whitmore, ACT chief executive officer, in a prepared statement. “As a nation, we must set ambitious goals and take strong action to address this consistent problem. The competitiveness of our young people and of our nation as a whole in the global economy is at stake.”
Whitmore also said he was encouraged by the use of the national common-core education standards adopted by 45 states, including Arkansas. He said the national standards are “raising the bar” for student learning.
As for the average scores on the individual subject areas, Arkansas students earned an average score of 19.9 out of a possible 36 on the English test, 19.9 on the math test, 20.5 on the reading test and 20.1 on the science test.
Nationally, students averaged a 20.2 in English, 20.9 in math, 21.1 in reading and 20.7 in science.
The ACT also reported performance on the test by race and/or ethnicity.
Nationally, black, Hispanic and American Indian students were less likely than their white and Asian classmates to be prepared for college.
In Arkansas, white students outperformed other students in English and reading. Students of Asian descent outperformed their peers in math and science.
Seventy-three percent of Arkansas’ white test-takers met the benchmark score of 18 in English. The same was true for 67 percent of Asian students, 51 percent of Hispanic students and 34 percent of black students.
In math, 59 percent of Asian students met the benchmark of 22, as did 43 percent of white students, 27 percent of Hispanic students and 10 percent of black students.
SEE THE DATA
Front Section, Pages 1 on 08/21/2013