Jon Erickson, VP of Educational Services, ACT |
Ideally, of course, the answer to both questions would be the same: Every Hispanic high school student who wanted a university degree would have the skills necessary to get one. But according to a recent report by ACT Inc., the nonprofit education and work force development organization best known for administering the ACT college placement exam, there is a sobering lack of readiness among Hispanic high school students with dreams of a four-year college degree. While they do offer rays of hope, ACT’s findings lay bare the major challenges facing educators, policymakers, families and students who want to see more Hispanic Americans thriving in a college environment.
Some good news first: In 2009, a record 134,000 Hispanic high school graduates took the ACT, a four-part test that measures college readiness in English, math, reading and science. That’s a 16 percent increase over 2008 and a whopping 60 percent increase since 2005.
For Jon Erickson, ACT’s vice president of educational services, this escalation indicates an encouraging trend. “Best-case scenario, it says there’s a growing interest in attending college,” he says. “It suggests students are being reached by more counseling and more information about training beyond secondary education, and that these things are having an impact.”
It’s worth noting, too, that the ACT is used as an entrance exam for four-year colleges and universities, not two-year schools. This suggests an expanded ambition among Hispanic teens.
That ambition also appears to be spreading nationwide. States as far-flung as Colorado, Michigan, Kentucky, Illinois and Wyoming all reported nearly 11 percent more Hispanic ACT test takers in 2009. Meanwhile Arizona, California, Florida, New York, Texas and New Mexico – all states with typically large Hispanic populations – reported an ACT surge of nearly 20 percent.
These numbers are even more impressive in the national context of the ACT. In 2009, just under 1.5 million high school graduates took the ACT, or roughly 45 percent of the national graduating class. That’s an increase of 2 percent over the national numbers from 2008, which suggests that Hispanics are at the forefront of new students who are strengthening their commitment to taking the ACT and pursuing a college degree.
The Spirit Is Willing, but the Scores Are Weak
Underneath that student enthusiasm, however, there is a troubling reality. Of all the Hispanic high school students who took the ACT in 2009, only 10 percent demonstrated college readiness in all four of the test’s subject areas.
Even more disconcerting, this is the third year in a row that only one in 10 Hispanic test takers has been truly prepared for college.
And what defines “prepared?” At ACT, it’s a standard created by the organization’s College Readiness Benchmarks. A “benchmark score” on the ACT exam is the minimum score that ACT feels is necessary to succeed in college. The organization defines success as having a 50 percent chance of earning a B or higher, or a 75 percent chance of earning a C or higher, in a first-year, credit-bearing course.
Broken down by subject, the results of Hispanic ACT test takers in 2009 are more encouraging, if only slightly: 48 percent met or exceeded the readiness benchmark for English, and 35 percent met it for reading. Math readiness stood at 27 percent, and science readiness hovered at 13 percent.
Compared to all test takers, Hispanic students are well below the national average. Last year, 23 percent of all test takers met or surpassed the college-readiness benchmarks in all four of the ACT’s subject areas, or more than double the percentage of Hispanic test takers.
Additionally, the highest possible composite score on the ACT, meaning a score that averages results from all four subject areas, is 36. In 2009, the average composite score for all test takers was 21.1. For Hispanic students, the average composite score was 18.7 (that score is on par with the record-high composite score for Hispanics that was reached in 2007).
This string of numbers might seem abstract, but it was not created in a vacuum. ACT has 50 years of experience tracking the success of both students and professionals in the workplace, and its benchmark scores are based on empirical data drawn from students in college. Their findings suggest that a student who doesn’t pass the ACT will face a mighty struggle to thrive in college.
Obviously, this lack of readiness could frustrate the ever-growing number of Hispanic high schoolers who want to pursue higher education. “If they’re not ready for college, then all we do is frustrate and lose them,” Erickson says. “And then all of those resources and all that time and effort have come to very little.”
Getting Ready for Readiness
Based on its research, ACT advocates that schools and school systems take the following steps to increase college readiness:
Change high school graduation standards to include fewer but ultimately more essential college-readiness standards. “In particular, the reading skills and math skills tend to be the make-or-break skills,” Erickson says.
Adopt a rigorous core curriculum for all high school graduates, whether they are bound for college or work.
Make certain that students and parents understand what is meant by “college and career readiness.” Clearly defined goals are easier to attain.
Begin monitoring academic achievement early to make sure younger students are on target to be ready for college and career.
Beyond this, Erickson says that schools with high-achieving students almost always support innovative teaching practices. Teachers may focus on universal standards of college readiness, but when given the freedom to approach those standards with creative lessons, or in ways that speak directly to the unique experiences of their students, they are often far more effective in the classroom.
Erickson adds that schools with high expectations for every student, not just those who are college-bound, tend to see higher achievement across the board. “These schools have a general attitude of ‘You can do it, and you will do it,’” Erickson says. “They say, ‘All of our students will have opportunities.’ The belief that all students will succeed sort of takes away crutches, and it demands a certain ‘extra mile’ amount of dedication from everyone at the school.”
It might seem obvious to suggest the adoption of a can-do attitude, but a culture of cynicism can easily pervade a school and cripple its ability to meet its goals. This fact underpins a recent success story at Anadarko High School, which serves a largely low-income population of students in Oklahoma. Partly by using ACT’s Educational Planning and Assessment System – which is a series of planning, assessment and support programs designed to assist students from eighth through 12th grades – the school fashioned a “top-down” method, in which high school teachers ask college professors what they want students to know, middle school teachers ask high school teachers, and so on. Mary Swanson, the school’s principal, has said this stopped a longstanding “blame game” in her area, in which high school teachers would blame middle school teachers for not getting students prepared to advance, college professors would blame high school teachers, etc.
Swanson also has said the top-down method helped her and her faculty become part of a far-reaching educational team, noting, “We meet together at all levels, even interstate levels. We learn new ideas from each other that we take back, and each time it seems more important than ever that our teachers continue team support.”
ACT also reports that when students are as well-versed as adults in the language of college readiness – when they know exactly what is considered necessary to succeed – they often develop more focused, energetic approaches to their work. Greenacres Junior High School in Washington state has noted student attitudes have improved since the school began hosting student-led seminars in which children tell their parents about everything from test scores to the meaning of various benchmark standards.
What works for one school won’t necessarily work for another, of course, but real-world examples like these could be valuable to communities seeking to help their Hispanic students.
Put Your Money (Time, Etc.) Where Your Mouth Is
But can ACT do more than just report problems on the college readiness of Hispanic students? Can it do more than suggest methods for improvement?
Erickson says it can, and he cites four ways that ACT is attempting to actively increase college readiness in the Hispanic population:
First, he mentions his organization’s attempt to raise awareness of the issue among policymakers, teachers and lawmakers. “The power of the details illuminates an issue that can seem abstract,” he says, explaining ACT’s attempt to directly contact as many people as possible and explain the challenges Hispanic students are facing.
Erickson continues that ACT is constantly on the hunt for high-performing schools so that it can highlight their successes and extrapolate lessons from their educational models.
He also notes that ACT is working to develop resources and materials in Spanish as well as English.
Finally, he adds that ACT is committed to working with other groups that engage with Hispanic students and communities. To that end, ACT has just created the ACT Foundation, which will soon deliver grants to people and organizations that are supporting college readiness. For the first time, this will give ACT an automatic funding source for ideas it supports.
With any luck, these initiatives, combined with the ongoing efforts of communities throughout the country, will help guarantee that every Hispanic student who wants to go to college has a real chance to succeed there.
