The EDifierAugust 19, 2010 More high school students continue to take the ACT college entrance exam, according to the newly released ACT High School Profile Report: The graduating class of 2010. There was a particularly large increase in number of minority students in the Class of 2010 taking the ACT. However, these increases likely led to the slight decline in scores over the past five years. Yet, there has been a significant increase in the number of students completing a college preparatory curriculum over the past several years, which has led to more students graduating high school “college ready.”
The findings
College Readiness
- The percent of students who scored at or above the ACT College Readiness Benchmarks in math (43 percent) and science (29 percent) increased one percentage point from 2009 to 2010. Fewer students than last year were college ready in English (66 percent) and Reading (52 percent).
- ACT believes those who achieved these benchmarks are ready to succeed in first-year, credit-bearing college courses in the specific subjects ACT tests.
- The percent of test-takers scoring at the College Readiness Benchmarks in all four subjects increased from by one percentage point from 2009 (23 percent) to 2010 (24 percent) and was three percentage points higher than in 2006 (21 percent).
Core Course Rigor
- Seventy-one percent of ACT test takers completed the recommended “core” college-preparatory curriculum, which is a 73 percent increase from 2006.
- Nearly twice (29 percent to 13 percent) as many “core” students met the benchmarks in all four subjects as “non-core” students in 2010.
- In math, only 12 percent of students who took Algebra I and II and geometry met the math college readiness benchmark, compared to 72 percent of students who took courses through calculus.
Scores
- The nation’s graduating Class of 2010 had an average composite score of 21.0 on the ACT, which was slightly lower than 2009 (21.1) and 2006 (21.1).
- Scores declined by one-tenth of point on the English (20.5) and reading (21.3) tests between 2006 and 2010, while scores on the science (20.9) test remained the same. Math (21.0) scores in 2010 were two-tenths higher than in 2006 but the same as 2009.
- Scores by ethnic/racial groups were mixed.
- The average Hispanic student score was 18.6 in 2010, which was one-tenth of a point below the 2009 score but the same score as 2006.
- The average Black student score was 16.9 in 2010, which was unchanged from 2009 but two-tenths of a point lower than in 2006.
- The average White student score was 22.3 in 2010 which was one-tenth of a point higher than the 2009 score and three-tenths higher than in 2006.
Test Takers
- The number of ACT test-takers jumped 6 percent from 2009 to 2010 to 1.57 million students. The ACT has seen a 30 percent increase of test takers just since 2006.
- More minority students are taking the ACT. The number of African-American test-takers increased 54 percent since 2006, while the increase was even larger for Hispanic students during the same time period at 84 percent.
- Both groups also make up a large share of all test takers as well. Black participation increased from 12 percent to 14 percent of all test-takers between 2006 and 2010, while Hispanic participation increased from 7 percent to 10 percent of all test-takers.
So, overall high schools are doing a better job of preparing students to succeed in college even as a larger and more diverse student population expects to go to college. – Jim Hull
For more information on how to use ACT scores to evaluate your school, check out the Center’s Good Measures for Good Schools.
July 28, 2010 There are those who have been making the argument that the push to get more students graduate college is overdone and maybe even harmful. Although I don’t agree with these arguments, they do make some legitimate points. For example, they state that more than half of those who go onto college will earn a four-year degree within six years and that of students who graduated at the bottom of their high school classes, 80 percent will likely never get a bachelor’s or associates degree. Considering the high cost of college nowadays, those students who go onto to college but don’t earn a degree are saddled with high debt and lower job prospects.
But instead of making the argument to send our education system back a half a century, where certain students had to choose their lifelong career at the age of 15, why not argue for a greater investment in our nation’s high schools? I’m not saying that students shouldn’t have access to vocational curriculum that teaches subjects like heating, air conditioning, or auto repair, but use those courses to teach traditional college-preparation subjects like trigonometry, chemistry, and physics. These subjects not only prepare students for college but are also essential for preparing students for the 21st Century workplace, even when they enter that workplace directly after high school. By providing a rigorous high school education that prepares students for both college and the workplace, students will have the choice of which direction they feel is best for them and not have that decision made for them.
Yes, going to college is no guarantee of a better life even after earning a four-year degree. But preparing all students to do so opens more doors for more students, whether they choose to go onto college or not. – Jim Hull
July 6, 2010 Small schools are the latest education strategy to be reportedly “losing steam,” and I wish educators would stop throwing the reform baby out with the bathwater.
Two articles in the Philadelphia Inquirer provide a fairly thoughtful look at the results of that city’s four new small high schools. Two in particular are highlighted — one that has done very well, and another that has struggled.
Reading through the articles, the reasons why seem pretty understandable. The struggling small high school had high turnover and a shifting mission. The successful one had clear goals and stable leadership.
Yet the article reports that “the results have been mixed [for the small-school strategy], national and local research shows. Students at small high schools were more likely to graduate, have positive relationships with their teachers, and feel safer. Still, they did no better on standardized tests than did their peers at big schools.”
Wait. A higher graduation rate and better attitude towards school aren’t enough?
I agree that school reform strategies should only happen if they measurably affect student outcomes. But small schools are primarily a strategy to improve environment. And there’s lots of research (summarized in a report by the Center) that shows, when they’re planned correctly, they do just that.
But what this article and so many others in education imply is that one reform strategy should solve every educational problem present in schools.
I think it’s smart to remember that we are dealing with people here. Large groups of people. Not to mention lots of different requirements. Think about your own work life. How hard is it for change to happen there? How many different factors affect whether something gets produced well, on time, and on budget?
Let’s stop dismissing any one education reform because it doesn’t do everything. I think it’d be far more interesting to start considering what combinations of education reforms might work best. –Rebecca St. Andrie
June 23, 2010 Newsweek made a common mistake in a recent article on high school dropout rates. The article used the inverse of the on-time graduation rate to come up with a dropout rate. Using the recent graduation rate estimates from Education Week’s Diplomas Count 2010, the article stated that dropout rates have risen for the second year in row. However, that is not what the data actually says.
As we explain in the Center’s Guide to Calculation High School Graduation Rates, a dropout rate is not the inverse of the graduation rate. The graduation rate used by EdWeek is a four-year graduation rate that only estimates the percent of 9th graders who graduate four years later. So the rate doesn’t count those students who graduate high school in more or less than four years, even if they earned the same diploma as their traditional four-year classmates.
As our Better Late Than Never report shows, those students who need more than four years to graduate high school fare much better in life after high school than their classmates who never earned a high school diploma or even those who went on to earn a GED. So referring to late graduates as dropouts is neither accurate or helpful.
I don’t mean to suggest that all is well and good with our nation’s high schools. The two-year drop in on-time graduation rates certainly raises a red flag. But let’s get the numbers right so we can do a better job pinpointing the problem. If we continually count late graduates as dropouts, we may be excluding many districts that have effective dropout recovery programs in place and are getting students who have fallen behind to graduate with a regular high school diploma in more than four years. These are programs that should be encouraged. The first step in doing so is counting such students as graduates, which they most certainly are. – Jim Hull
June 3, 2010 With high school seniors around the country counting down the days until they receive their diplomas, the U.S. Department of Education has released a report on how many students earned a diploma in 2007-08. According to the report, just under 75 percent of students graduated on time in 2008, which is up from 74 percent in 2007.
However, the rate varies greatly from state to state, ranging from 51 percent in Nevada to nearly 90 percent in Wisconsin. Furthermore, large gaps exist between groups of students, with 91 percent of Asian and 81 percent students graduating on time, while just 64 percent of Hispanic and 62 percent of Black students graduated on time.
Remember whenever reading about graduation rates that the inverse of the graduation rate is not the dropout rate. For example, the estimated national graduation rate is 75 percent, but this does not necessarily mean that 25 percent of students dropped out (as we discuss in our Calculating high school graduation rates report). This is because students who only earn a standard high school diploma within 4 years of entering high school are counting in most graduation rates.
So students who earn a certificate of completion, a special education degree, or a GED are not included. Nor are students who take more than 4 years to graduate high school, which, according to our Better late than never report, represents nearly 5 percent of high school graduates. So including late graduates could boost the national graduation rate to 80 percent.
Increasing the national graduation rate 5 percentage points doesn’t sound huge, but it represents over 200,000 students in 2008 alone. And when looking at individual schools, including late graduates could significantly increase their graduation rates, especially for those schools who excel at getting likely dropouts to persevere and graduate.
So next time you hear about the graduation rate in your state or your district, take a moment to look if it includes those students who needed more than 4 years to graduate. It can really change the way you evaluate your local schools. Because isn’t it more important that a student earns a diploma, no matter how long it takes, than for a student to drop out of high school altogether? We answered that question. The answer is a resounding YES! – Jim Hull
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