Reports question college readiness

Ariz. SAT, ACT scores worrisome, groups say

The majority of Arizona highschool graduates’ scores on two popular college-admissions tests — the ACT and the SAT — indicate that the students are ill-prepared for college and would likely need to take remedial classes once there, according to reports from the groups responsible for administering the tests.

Of the more than 31,000 Arizona high-school seniors who took the ACT last year, only 21 percent stand a strong chance of earning a C or higher in first-year college courses related to math, science, English and reading, according to one report.

The ACT measures the skills taught in high school by predicting how successful a student will be during his or her first year in

college.

Nationally, students didn’t fare much better than those in Arizona, according to the ACT report.

Only 26 percent of students nationwide who took the ACT in 2012 met all four benchmarks in math, science, English and reading and probably would not need to take remedial college courses, according to the report.

On the other hand, 31 percent did not meet any of the four benchmarks.

According to a similar annual report on the SAT, Arizona high-school seniors who took the test last year scored an average of 1498 — below the benchmark of 1550 that predicts students will achieve grades of a B- or higher in their first year of college.

Students who meet the benchmark are more likely to earn a higher GPA in their first year of college and more likely to graduate, according to the SAT report.

Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal said in an e-mail that the SAT report is a concern. “We have not seen significant growth in these scores nationally or in Arizona. This data confirms that we must do more in our K-12 education system to prepare our students for postsecondary education and career training.”

Students play catch-up

Thirty percent of recent high-school graduates attending one of Maricopa County’s community colleges last year needed to take remedial classes in math and science, and 39 percent needed to take remedial courses in reading before advancing to freshman-level courses, according to data provided by the district.

The Maricopa County Community College District doesn’t require students to provide ACT or SAT scores for admission, said Provost Maria Harper- Marinick.

All new students must take placement tests in math, science and reading that show whether they can handle freshman- level courses or need to take remedial courses, Harper- Marinick said.

Depending on placementtest scores, students may need to take up to three remedial English and/or reading classes and up to two remedial math classes, according to the district.

About a third of incoming freshmen straight out of high school need to take remedial courses in two or more subjects, according to district data.

Although remedial courses cost the same as regular courses, they don’t count toward a college degree.

That’s an extra cost not just to students but to the colleges, Harper-Marinick said.

“For colleges, there is a cost, because we have to provide faculty and space,” Harper-Marinick said.

“It’s not only money; it’s also time. Students need to be thinking about the long-term impact of actually getting a degree.”

Students who have taken remedial courses in community college are able to catch up to their more prepared peers and do equally well in school, Harper-Marinick said.

But the problem is getting those students to stay in college, she said.

“The ‘if’ is if they complete the developmental courses,” Harper-Marinick said. “What happens to many students is they get frustrated because they have to take developmental courses. For some of them, their academic preparation is so low they have to repeat the developmental course. So, many of them just don’t get past that.”

Preparing kids early

Arizona students who aren’t academically successful may face limited career choices.

Many Arizona students interested in pursuing careers in high-growth fields such as education, marketing, computer science and health care aren’t adequately prepared to pursue these jobs, “suggesting that they are not on the right path to take advantage of career opportunities” in these areas, according to the report.

To prepare for postsecondary education, eighthgrade students in Mesa Public Schools create a four-year plan for high school and what they want to study in college, said Joseph O’Reilly, the district’s executive director for studentachievement support.

“If they’re shooting for a goal, they’re more likely to be successful in college,” O’Reilly said.

An educational- and careerplanning program is one way some districts in Arizona are trying to get eighth-graders to think about their aspirations after high school.

Since the 2010-11 school year, eighth-grade students in participating school districts across the state have participated in the educational- and career-planning program called ACT Explore, which measures students’ achievement in math, science, English and reading.

“We’re hoping it will help start getting students thinking about getting prepared and what they need to do post-high school,” O’Reilly said.

Beyond the eighth-grade test, the Mesa school district looks at its students’ ACT scores in combination with other information to determine how students might fare in college, O’Reilly said.

The Higley Unified School District reviews ACT scores not only to see how students are achieving academically, but how teachers can focus on areas of curriculum that students might not have properly grasped, said Anna McCauley, the district’s director of research and assessment.

“If they see historically that they’ve not done well (in a particular subject), they can look at ACT scores and look at where they can improve,” McCauley said.

O’Reilly said he expects ACT scores to go up as Arizona’s College and Career Ready Standards (formerly known as the Common Core State Standards) are implemented in schools.

“You really need to be able to think through and explain your answers (under the College and Career Ready Standards), and that should show up in improving scores like the ACT,” he said.

Huppenthal said the ACT report offers more evidence for supporting tougher academic standards in the state.

“The recent report on college and career readiness reiterates the point that Arizona’s students need the higher, more rigorous standards that better prepare our students for college and careers,” he said.