According to data recently released by the ACT, or American College Test, only 22 percent of Oklahoma students were ready for college courses in math, English, social science and biology when they graduated from high school. Nationally, 28 percent of students met the benchmark scores in all four subjects.
Oklahoma students have maintained an average score of 20.7 on the test for the past five years. Nationwide, scores have gone down slightly since 2011. The national average for 2015 was 21.0
Click here for a link to the report.
The ACT is a college aptitude test that students can take in their junior and senior years of high school. Their scores are meant to tell them how well they will do in college courses.
According to the ACT, the benchmark score is the minimum score needed on an ACT subject area test to indicate a 50 percent chance of obtaining a B or higher, or a 75 percent chance of obtaining a C or higher in the corresponding credit-bearing college course.
Here is a breakdown of the data:
- 64 percent of Oklahoma students were ready for college-level course work in English. This is even with the national data. 64 percent of students nationwide were ready for college-level coursework in English Composition as well.
- Oklahoma was lower than the national average in Algebra. 34 percent of the students who took the test were ready for college level math, as compared to 42 percent of the students who took the test nation-wide.
- Oklahoma students slightly surpassed students nationally in the Social Science category. 47 percent met the College Social Science benchmark in the state, while only 46 percent of students did nationally.
- And Oklahoma students lagged behind the national average in College Biology. 33 percent of students in Oklahoma met the benchmark biology score, while 38 percent of students did nationally.
When the data is broken down by race and ethnicity:
Black and African American students have traditionally scored the worst over the past five years, although their scores have increased slightly over that time frame from 17.2 to 17.6. On the other end of that spectrum, Asian students in Oklahoma have consistently scored the best over the past five years.
National breakdown:
Comparing scores state to state is difficult, because in some states only 10 percent of students take the test. So, scores are higher in those states. In Oklahoma, 80 percent of students took the test their senior year.
Click here for a link to a state-by-state comparison.
The State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Joy Hofmeister, recently announced that the state Department of Education would be paying for all students in their junior year of high school to take the ACT. Hofmeister said this would allow 22,000 juniors who are unable to take the test- because of funding or travel issues- to take it. The test will not be a mandatory test. Districts can sign up for the program voluntarily, and students only have to take it if they want.
This program will cost the state $1.5 million dollars, which Hofmeister has said was already budgeted for assessments and will not take away from any other programs. This program will last a year.
