Arkansas' high school class of 2016 took the ACT college-entrance exam in record numbers but earned a composite score of 20.2, which fell below the 20.4 score earned by the previous classes of 2014 and 2015.
That 20.2 for Arkansas is below the national composite of 20.8, which also reflects a 0.2 point dip when compared with previous years. The national composite score dropped from 21 in each of the preceding two years.
The ACT test is scored on a scale of 1 to 36 and is made up of English, reading, math and science subtests. In Arkansas, the test results are used to qualify for college enrollment and scholarships. Additionally, ACT subject-area scores are used to determine whether a new Arkansas college student must take a noncredit, remedial course in a subject area. Students must earn a score of 19 or better to avoid the remedial courses.
Leaders of ACT Inc., the maker of the exam, in large part attributed the decline in the national composite to the increase in the number of test-takers. Almost 2.1 million graduating seniors took the college entrance test. That was about 64 percent of the 2016 graduating class, which was up from 59 percent of the graduating class in 2015.
"This year's ACT-tested class is more representative of the student population than any we've ever had," said ACT Chief Executive Officer Marten Roorda in the announcement of the 2016 results.
"We have likely added many more underrepresented students who may not have been preparing to go to college," Roorda added. "In a situation such as this, it's not at all surprising that overall achievement levels went down. Research clearly shows that scores initially decrease when states adopt the ACT for all students, but access and opportunities increase."
In Arkansas, 96 percent of the most recent graduating class took the test at least once, compared with 93 percent the year before. There were 28,220 test-takers in the 2016 class compared with 26,955 in the 2015 class.
Not only did the composite score for Arkansas decline, so did the scores in each of the four subject areas -- English, reading, mathematics and science -- that make up the composite score. The English score dropped from 20 to 19.8; the reading score dropped from 20.9 to 20.7, and science fell from 20.3 for the Class of 2015 to 20.2 for the 2016 class. The largest drop was in math, which went from 20 to 19.6 on the 1-to-36 scale.
"We are really struggling in the area of math, and we have to get to the point where we have rigorous math courses where teachers are teaching to the [state] standards," said Stacy Smith, the Arkansas Department of Education's assistant commissioner for learning services. "I still think we have some gaps between professional development and instruction, and getting to that application piece with our students."
The Arkansas results also showed that just 1 in 5, or 20 percent, of Arkansas test-takers met the ACT's "College Readiness Benchmarks" in all four of the tested subjects. That is down 1.4 points from 2015, according to data released today by ACT Inc.
High school graduates who meet the ACT benchmarks in a subject area are said to have the knowledge and skills needed to have a 75 percent chance of earning a C or a 50 percent chance of earning a B in corresponding, first-year college courses. Sixty percent of Arkansas test-takers met the benchmark in English, which is an ACT English score of 18. Forty percent met the reading benchmark which is an ACT score of 22. In math, 32 percent of state test-takers met the college-readiness benchmark of a 22 on the ACT math test, and 30 percent met the science benchmark of a 23 on the science portion of the test.
"The area that concerns me the most are the percentages of students who met college readiness benchmarks," Smith said. "We seem to have it in our minds that once you make a 19 in our state you are ready to go. But that 19 just says you can go to college without taking a remedial course. We still lack students meeting the benchmark scores. In math that is 22 on the ACT, not a 19. Only 31 percent of our students met that 22 ... that is why we need to have those conversations about shooting for more, going for more," she said. "We've got a lot of work to do."
Nationally, ACT Inc. leaders concluded that the decline in the overall readiness of students for college is a largely a reflection of the increased numbers of students taking the test -- a statistic fueled by the fact that there were seven new states funding the ACT for all 11th-graders. Scores went down in those states and helped drive down the national composite scores.
In all, 20 states provided the test for all students.
Arkansas was not among those seven new states giving the test to all 11th-graders before those students became 2016 graduates. But Arkansas will be added to that list of states paying for all juniors in the report for the Class of 2017. The state this past spring offered all high school juniors -- now seniors -- the opportunity to take the ACT at state expense.
Edward Colby, senior director for media and public relations for ACT Inc., predicted that Arkansas' ACT composite and subject area scores are likely to dip again when the score report is released for 2017.
"Even though you are testing 96 percent, you are going to be adding students who would not normally be taking the ACT and are not preparing for college. That does tend to drop the average overall," Colby said.
Smith said she hoped that the juniors taking the exams will prompt discussions about areas for improvement.
"Hopefully, next year as seniors, they will retake it on their own and we will see an increase in their scores from the previous year," Smith said. She also said that the "ACT predictor scores" on the annual state-required Aspire tests in ninth and 10th grades are also intended to help students make wise, beneficial course selections in their final high school years.
In Arkansas, the number of black and Hispanic test-takers has increased since 2012. The number of black students increased from 4,677 to 4,857 in the 2016 class. Those students earned a composite score of 16.8. Hispanic test-takers increased from 1,776 to 2,605, and earned a composite 18.8 score. White students had a composite of 21.5 this past year. Asian students had a 22.7 composite score.
Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Hampshire had the highest composite scores of 24.5 or higher, but they test a third or fewer of their students. Minnesota had the highest composite score for a state that gave the ACT to all students. The composite score there was 21.1.
A check of results for individual school systems showed a wide range of scores.
The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts' Class of 2016 earned a 29.4 composite score as a class. It was the second highest of any group of graduates in the school's history since the starting class in 1995, the school reported. The Class of 2015's 29.8 is the highest average composite score.
EStem Public Charter School reported a 2016 graduating class composite of 21.5, up from 19.9 in the previous class. Both classes had 116 students.
The Pulaski County Special School District reported a composite score of 19.5 for its 2016 graduating class, up from 19.0 the preceding year.
The Little Rock School District's Class of 2016 -- 1,436 students -- earned a composite score of 18.2, down from 19 for the 2015 class. Central High had a composite score of 21.2 for the 581 test-takers in the 2016 class. That was down from 22.3.
Parkview Magnet High's composite fell from 19.6 to 18.9 for 2016. McClellan High's composite improved from 15.1 to 15.4. Fair High's composite was 15.2 and Hall High's was 14.8. McClellan, Fair and Hall are classified by the state as academically distressed schools.
Mike Poore, Little Rock School District's new superintendent, has highlighted in his recent speeches around the city that ACT scores had improved at the district level and at each individual high school. He said Tuesday that was the case for the district's 11th-graders who took the test last spring and whose scores from that spring test were released in June.
Those districtwide results show a district composite of 18.3 for the district and 18.8 for the state. The district's 18.3 in 2016 is an improvement over the 17.6 in 2015.
There is not that kind of improvement in the Class of 2016 data that is being announced today, Poore said.
"Our scores don't come across as good, but that is a collective result. Kids could have taken the test six times or five times, or they could have gotten tutoring from within the school district or from a private company that helps prepare kids for taking college entrance exams," Poore said about 2016 ACT results for the district and state.
"That's where we run into some challenges, sometimes, because we maybe don't have as many opportunities for our kids because of where they stand in terms of their economic situation to take the test four times or to get private tutoring," he said. "So our results don't look quite as good when you get to this aggregate of every ACT test the kid has taken and they take the best score for him to incorporate it into the school results.
"We don't look as good in a comparison to other districts or where we want to be," Poore said. "We don't want to back away from those results. It means we have got to get better. We want to do everything we can to impact the 11th or 12th grader. We have to find ways to help them resource it -- whether that is additional help in prepping kids for the ACT or finding resources to allow a kid to take it more than once. That makes a big difference."
Metro on 08/24/2016