More Kentucky public high school graduates are meeting the state’s college-readiness benchmarks on the ACT college-entrance exam, according to data released by the Kentucky Department of Education.
“The numbers show that our high school graduates are better prepared for college than ever before,” Education Commissioner Terry Holliday said. “That’s a direct result of Senate Bill 1 and the reforms – including more rigorous standards and accountability – that we’ve implemented since 2009. Clearly, our teachers and students have risen to the challenge.”
The percentage of students meeting Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE) benchmarks is up in every subject over the past three years. The benchmarks represent the minimum scores that guarantee students entry into corresponding credit-bearing college courses at Kentucky college and universities without the need for developmental education or supplemental courses.
“It is estimated that students and parents have been able to save more than $1,000 per student by avoiding non-credit bearing remedial course tuition at the college level,” Holliday said. “On top of that, high school graduates who reach college readiness levels are more likely to return to college for a second year, take more credit-bearing courses, and have a higher GPA.”
In recent years, Kentucky graduates have realized significantly greater gains on the ACT than their
counterparts nationwide. From 2011 to 2015, Kentucky public school graduates made gains in every subject and more than a three-quarter point improvement in the overall composite score – up to 20.0 on a 36-point scale. At the same time, student performance in the U.S. stagnated, with the national composite of 21.2, up only one-tenth of a point from 2011.
For the past three years, ACT has included scores for students receiving extended-time accommodations in its summary reporting. These students typically register lower test scores than students who do not receive additional time to take the test. Eight percent of Kentucky test-takers receive ACT-approved accommodations as compared with four percent of students nationally.
Composite scores for various groups of public school graduates are up from where they were several years ago, but the numbers illustrate that achievement gaps persist. Holliday said it is imperative that all students have an opportunity to graduate college/career-ready. The state is putting an emphasis on strategies to close achievement gaps and working with schools and districts to do so, he said.
The Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, Kentucky’s primary advocacy group for education released this statement regarding the new data:
The ACT results released by Kentucky Department of Education show positive trends for the 2015 graduating class overall, but raise concerns about whether African American, Hispanic, and American Indian students are receiving the full support they need and deserve.
The good news is that members of the 2015 class as a whole looked stronger than their 2014 peers. In English, mathematics and reading, more of them met Kentucky’s benchmarks for college readiness. Progress in mathematics was especially strong, with an increase of more than 4% in students who are ready for credit-bearing college work.
For some student groups, however, the results were clearly not strong enough. Students from different racial backgrounds still have quite different results. Looking at ACT composite scores, 2015 African American graduates did no better than their 2014 peers, and Hispanic graduates did slightly worse. American Indian students improved just slightly faster than white students and not at a pace to close the big gap between the two groups. All three groups have results showing them less ready for college success than their white and Asian classmates.
The Kentucky Board of Education has already added important new efforts to reduce novice performance in all subgroups, signaling that it is time for deeper, more sustained work to end these gaps. To support renewed and expanding work on increasing achievement and closing gaps, a Prichard Committee study group will be working through the fall to analyze data, policy and practice, with the aim to share recommendations at the beginning of 2016.
For Kentucky to flourish, we need for Kentucky students of every background to reach their potential and join in building a strong, shared future. While progress is evident overall, important student subgroups still lag behind, demonstrating the need for more concerted efforts to close these gaps rapidly. Our goal must be for all Kentucky students to graduate from high school truly ready for adult success.
For more information:
Visit our website at http://www.education.ky.gov