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Falling ACT Scores Hold a Lesson for Universities. Inflated high-school grades are masking a crisis in college readiness.
James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal ^ | December 21, 2023 | Harrington Shaw

Posted on 12/22/2023 6:03:44 AM PST by karpov

A record number of students are failing to reach college-readiness benchmarks. The data, from testing giant ACT, come as scores fall for the sixth straight year.

ACT’s college-readiness benchmarks aim to predict student preparedness by setting scoring standards commensurate with a reasonable degree of success in college courses. ACT claims that students meeting the benchmark for a particular subject on its flagship test have a 50-percent chance of attaining a B and a 75-percent chance of attaining a C in the corresponding college class. However, a record number of students are failing to meet any of the ACT’s benchmarks.

43 percent of the class of 2023 failed to meet any ACT college-readiness benchmarks, and only 21 percent met all four (English, math, reading, and science). This marks a nearly five-percent decrease from last year, when 22 percent of students met all four benchmarks. Given that nearly two million students take the exam each year, thousands of high schoolers have likely fallen below rudimentary college-readiness standards compared to last year.

Higher Ed Dive reported that students in the class of 2023, with their record-setting underpreparedness as assessed by the ACT, “were in their first year of high school when the Covid-19 pandemic began.” This connection points to the likely fact that Covid-era policies and instruction loss have left a lasting impact on high schoolers’ college readiness.

A report by the Center for School and Student Progress found that after the 2023 school year, “across all grade levels, the average student will require the equivalent of 4.1 months of additional schooling to catch up to pre-Covid levels in reading and 4.5 months in math.” However, the authors indicate that catching students up is more complex than tacking on a few extra months of instruction.

(Excerpt) Read more at jamesgmartin.center ...


TOPICS: Education
KEYWORDS: act; college; gradeinflation; standardizedtests

1 posted on 12/22/2023 6:03:44 AM PST by karpov
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To: karpov

Just lower the standards, problem solved…/s


2 posted on 12/22/2023 6:06:22 AM PST by The Louiswu (Pray for Peace in the world.)
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To: karpov

Wrong. “College readiness” simply means well-versed in Woke Doctrine.


3 posted on 12/22/2023 6:07:11 AM PST by BlueStateRightist (Government is best which governs least.)
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To: karpov

Keep it up, public education!

Job security for me.


4 posted on 12/22/2023 6:07:19 AM PST by HombreSecreto (The life of a repo man is always intense)
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To: karpov

Eventually, the chickens come home to roost.
Or should we “students”....LOL


5 posted on 12/22/2023 6:08:55 AM PST by lgjhn23 ("On the 8th day, Satan created the progressive liberal to destroy all the good that God created..." )
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To: karpov

Biden made working American families pay to get the slow and retarded free “college” diplomas. It’s too bad they didn’t learn anything between spring breaks.


6 posted on 12/22/2023 6:08:59 AM PST by FlingWingFlyer (The American Taxpayers don't owe anybody an instant "I want it now" version of the American dream.)
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To: karpov

They are just now catching on? This has been a crisis for years!


7 posted on 12/22/2023 6:13:05 AM PST by devane617 (Discipline Is Reliable, Motivation Is Fleeting..)
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To: karpov

Parents got suckered into these High School programs for $10,000 or more a year. For that price, parents demand A grades for their idiot kids, so they get them. The kids do not deserve them, but they get them.


8 posted on 12/22/2023 6:14:41 AM PST by CodeToad (Rule #1: The elites want you dead.)
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To: karpov

It used to be a Criminal Act to Falsify Official Government records and documents. I actually the Los Angeles DA personally about 30 years ago, why they don’t Prosecute Teachers and Administrators for these Criminal Acts of Falsifying Grades, his answer was, it’s to political.


9 posted on 12/22/2023 6:20:37 AM PST by eyeamok
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To: The Louiswu

College = holding pens for children.


10 posted on 12/22/2023 6:21:18 AM PST by vortigern
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To: karpov

But at least they probably know what and when to us the proper pronouns and which gender they are this week.


11 posted on 12/22/2023 6:21:52 AM PST by antidemoncrat
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To: CodeToad

As an engineering manager my final job interviews required passing about an eighth grade comprehensive test just to apply. I was told it was because grades transcripts and resumes were all assumed to be fake or inflated.


12 posted on 12/22/2023 6:22:41 AM PST by Gen.Blather (Wait! I said that out loud? )
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To: CodeToad

Indeed. Had a client a couple of years back— a private boarding school in Southern California (not the REAL California...). A boutique affair, targeted at the ‘horsey’ set. Annual cost? A little over $70,000. For High School. Pretty sure all the students do quite well, thank you.


13 posted on 12/22/2023 6:35:02 AM PST by drwoof
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To: Gen.Blather

I’m an adjunct instructor for a public university’s engineering program. I can attest that today’s college students are terribly unprepared by their high schools. The sophomore level class I teach should be a challenge but not all that difficult to pass. Nearly half of my class failed or had to withdraw in the past two semesters; remarkable numbers that I’ve never seen in the 15+ years I have taught the subject. This semester’s students were high school juniors when the plandemic hit. We’ve got a way to go before these damaged students are flushed from the system.


14 posted on 12/22/2023 6:51:51 AM PST by GOP_Party_Animal
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To: karpov

Public Schools, teachers unions, bloated budgets

Its end times for public schooling


15 posted on 12/22/2023 7:07:53 AM PST by PGR88
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To: karpov

Too much “extra credit” for walkin’ out of class in High School all the time.


16 posted on 12/22/2023 7:24:53 AM PST by FlingWingFlyer (The American Taxpayers don't owe anybody an instant "I want it now" version of the American dream.)
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To: karpov

I have posted this numerous times:

Mother Theresa says wisdom is acquired through suffering.

It must apply to universities as well as individuals.

Good luck, Harvard and other elite schools.


17 posted on 12/22/2023 8:10:03 AM PST by cymbeline
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To: karpov

That means the ACT asks racist questions.


18 posted on 12/22/2023 9:04:24 AM PST by ViLaLuz (2 Chronicles 7:14)
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To: PGR88

<>80 percent of U.S. colleges did not require ACT or SAT scores for fall 2023 admissions.<>

Of course not. The purpose of public education isn’t education for qualified students.

The purpose of K-12 and higher ed is employment for union teachers, professors and a multitude of administrators.

Per Rush, always follow the money. More students = more money.

Simple.


19 posted on 12/22/2023 2:17:19 PM PST by Jacquerie (ArticleVBlog.com)
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