The results of ACT's latest report -- "The Condition of College & Career Readiness 2011" -- doesn't contain much data for us to get excited about. ACT scores remained relatively flat from 2010 to 2011, and the exam shows that just 25% of students demonstrated college readiness in math, sciences, reading and English. Science was the weakest area. 28% of graduates met none of the benchmarks in these four subject areas.
The ACT is gaining in popularity. 1.62 million students, or 49% of 2011 high school graduates took the exam, up from 47% in 2010. The states with the highest percentage of ACT test-takers remain located in the Central U.S. According to ACT, the data also shows that this past year saw the most diverse group of test-takers in history, with a particular surge in the number of Hispanics taking the exam.
Bob Schaeffer and the folks at FairTest.org aren't so quick to see success in the ACT report. In response to the report, Schaeffer stated, "Test-driven policies which claim to be improving U.S. public schools have, in fact, failed by their own standards." Schaeffer argues that "academic gains, as measured by ACT, are stagnant, and racial gaps are increasing."
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