NC Public Schools: Caught in the ACT

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The 2013 ACT results were released yesterday, and North Carolina did not fare well compared to states with comparable participation rates.  Should we be worried?

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Much of the media coverage of the release of the state’s ACT scores has centered on the fact that scores declined from last year. The decline was a predictable result of the fact that we now require all 11th-grade students to take the ACT.  Because of that sweeping change, we should not be focused on year-to-year changes.  The real news is North Carolina’s dismal performance when compared to states that tested a similar percentage of their 11th-grade student population last year.

But first, here is a little background on the issue.  In the past, college-bound students voluntarily took the ACT to meet admission requirements to the postsecondary school of their choice.  In 2011, state education officials decided toinclude the test and two other ACT products, PLAN, and WorkKeys, in the state’s annual testing requirements. 

Despite concerns about the way that the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) chose the ACT, I continue to support the decision to administer high-quality, independent, and research-based tests that allow taxpayers to compare North Carolina students to their counterparts in other states.  It is an approach to standardized testing that the state should have adopted and maintained since the start of the ABCs of Public Education accountability program in 1996.  Instead, state education officials chose to create their own test development operation within DPI that, through its history, was less than satisfactory.

The decision to require the ACT provides us the most recent glimpse of how North Carolina’s students compare to test-takers in other states.  The news is not positive (See Facts and Stats below).  Of the 11 states that tested more than 95 percent of their 11th-grade students in English, math, reading, and science, North Carolina had the lowest average score in all subjects except math.  Our math rank was 7^th from the top, which is consistent with the state’s history of performing reasonably well on math assessments such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).

Overall, 43 percent of North Carolina 11th-graders met the English benchmark, but only 31 percent and 33 percent met the reading and mathematics benchmarks, respectively.  One in four students met the science benchmark.  Of course, some students met multiple benchmarks.  Thirty-eight percent of the state’s test takers met at least two benchmarks; 17 percent of students met benchmarks in English, reading, math, and science.  Based on this data, one could argue that only 17 percent of North Carolina’s 11th-grade students are prepared for college-level work.

Those who are tempted to blame low ACT scores on Republicans and/or budget "cuts" should note that the test taking population is 11th-grade students.  Most of the students represented in these scores have been in their state’s public school systems for a decade or more.  In other words, their performance is the aggregate of several years of public education, not the last few.

Similarly, those who credit Smart Start for record increases in the statewide graduation rate may want to consider how and why North Carolina 11th-graders statewide, some of whom must have been enrolled in Smart Start programs, fared poorly on the ACT.  Speaking of graduation rates, these ACT results are another indication that the preparation of our average high school graduate is inadequate.  Have our public schools chosen quantity over quality?  Discuss.

In sum, the ACT results are not encouraging.  What is encouraging, however, is that we now require students to take tests such as the ACT, which provide the kind of information that state, district, and school officials need to make improvements to North Carolina’s public schools.

Facts and Stats

Average ACT Scores: Nation and districts with participation rates of 95 percent or higher

Source: ACT, "2013 ACT National and State Scores: Average Scores by State," August 21, 2013.

Education Acronym of the Week

ACT – [Gotcha! When referring to the ACT tests, it is not an acronym.]

Quote of the Week

"17% of [North Carolina] students met all four ACT College Readiness Benchmark Scores"

– ACT Profile Report: North Carolina Graduating Class 2013, p. 4

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