Continued: Nice ACT scores, but ready for college?

Is being the best good enough? When it comes to how Minnesota's high school graduates fared on the ACT college entrance exam, that's a question educators are facing.

For the fourth consecutive year, Minnesota's seniors recorded higher scores than seniors in other states where at least half of the students took the test. But there are significant concerns as well.

Fewer than a third of the 2008 Minnesota high school graduates who took the ACT reached the benchmark for college readiness in all four of the subject areas of English, math, reading and science. Minority students continue to score much lower than white students in the state.

In results to be released today, the more than 44,000 Minnesota 2008 high school graduates who took the ACT averaged 22.6 out of a possible 36 on the standardized test. That is up 0.1 from a year ago and up 0.4 from 2004.

Among the 26 states where at least half of high school graduates took the test, Iowa was second at 22.4 and Wisconsin was third at 22.3. The 2008 national average was 21.1, down 0.1 from a year ago.

The ACT is the primary college entrance exam taken in Minnesota and throughout much of the Midwest. Because the SAT is more popular nationally -- especially on the two coasts -- it is difficult to definitively say that Minnesota produces smarter high school graduates or that the state has a superior educational system.

However, Minnesota's class of 2008 did much better than the national average in all four testing areas, scoring 21.9 in English, 22.6 in math, 23.0 in reading and 22.5 in science.

Not-so-ready?

The ACT defines college readiness as the score a high schooler needs to achieve to have a 75 percent chance of scoring at least a C in a college class.

While 77 percent of Minnesotans reached the college readiness standard in English, the numbers dipped to 64 percent for reading, 56 percent for math and only 40 percent for science.

Only 32 percent of Minnesota's 2008 graduates reached the readiness benchmarks in all four areas.

Cyndie Schmeiser, the president and chief operating officer for ACT's education division, stressed the importance of college readiness.

"In all truthfulness, what really matters is whether more students are becoming ready for college and career," she said. "That's why we think it's time to change the focus of our dialogue, and we ought to be focused on 'are we making significant inroads in preparing more students to become ready for college course work?'"

The college readiness numbers mirror what has been going on at college campuses in the state.

An April study by the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system found that 38 percent of 2005 high school graduates who enrolled at an in-state public school had to take at least one remedial course. Remedial education is expensive and time-consuming, as those credits don't count toward graduation.

A large gap

While Minnesota's overall score is good, there continues to be a large chasm between white and non-white students.

Minnesota students who identified themselves as black averaged 17.6 on the test -- more than five points below the average score of white students. Hispanic students averaged 20.3, Asian students scored 20.4 and Native Americans 20.6. Those scores are below the national average for all students.

College readiness numbers are particularly poor for Minnesota's black students. Only 5 percent of black students reached the ACT readiness standards in all four subject areas. The percentages for Asian, Native American and Hispanic students were all less than 20 percent.

"It's disappointing to see those numbers," said Chas Anderson, Minnesota's deputy commissioner of education. "At the same time, we need to see it as an opportunity to make changes in the system and how we serve those students.

"We know we still need to work on that achievement gap."

Anderson said districts need to continue early intervention with students who fall behind, and not wait until high school to begin addressing the problem.

Anderson also said state officials hope a new mandate that eighth graders take algebra -- a rule that goes into effect in two years -- could lead students to take more math and science in high school. The state currently requires only three years of each of those subjects for graduation.

Jeff Shelman • 612-673-7478