Dive Brief:
- A new report from ACT finds 62% of black students did not meet a single benchmark across four categories of college readiness, double the percentage of test takers in the class of 2014 overall.
- Even the black students who took the recommended sequence of courses in high school lagged far behind their peers, with only 36% meeting the benchmark in English, 19% in reading, 15% in math, and 11% in science.
- The ACT report, prepared with the United Negro College Fund, found 86% of black test takers surveyed planned to earn a college degree.
Dive Insight:
College readiness among black students, as measured by ACT, is dismal. The reality is similarly stark for low-income students. But even the average scores for test takers overall, while significantly better than these two cohorts on their own, are also bad. Less than half of graduating high school students tested are expected to pass a credit-bearing first-year college course in reading. Less than three-quarters are expected to do the same in English. Only about one-quarter of all test-takers meet ACT benchmarks in all four subject areas. Administrators must keep these statistics in mind as they consider increasing resources for remediation and changing the way remedial education is delivered.