State Performance in 'College Readiness' Report Drops Slightly

Students in California fared slightly worse this year compared to last on a "College and Career Readiness" report released by the ACT. 

"The Condition of College and Career Readiness 2011," a report on the college and career readiness of the class of 2011, released by the ACT, found 30 percent of California’s ACT-tested 2011 high school graduates met or surpassed all four of ACT’s College Readiness Benchmarks (English, math, reading, and science). This figure is down slightly from 31 percent last year. 

Sample ACT test questions include a passage and/or a test item from each of the four ACT tests in English, reading, mathematics and science. Students who score at or above the College Readiness Benchmark on a test (18 in English, 21 in reading, 22 in mathematics and 24 in science) will be able to correctly answer the sample item for that test, according to the ACT's website.

Just over 99,000 high school graduates in California's class of 2011, an estimated 24 percent of the graduating class, took the ACT, according to ACT data. 

From 2007-11, the number of ACT test-taking graduates in California has increased by about 60 percent, while the number of graduates has increased by about 2 percent, according to ACT data.

“While we’ve made some progress over the last few years, today’s ACT report provides more evidence that California has some work to do to make sure every student graduates with the skills to succeed in college and the workplace," State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson said in a statement Wednesday. “The results also further demonstrate the achievement gap that we’ve seen in other measures of student performance—including the state’s STAR test results and in high school graduation rates.”

Nearly 23 percent of California’s ACT-tested graduates met none of the four ACT College Readiness Benchmarks.

California college-readiness levels are higher overall than the national averages in all four subject areas.

"Even though the 24 percent of the state’s graduates who took the ACT may not be representative of the entire California 2011 graduation class, these findings are encouraging," the California Department of Education said in the statement.

Click here for the full report.

California’s disaggregated data by school will not be available for several months, according to the Department.