The importance of middle school for college readiness

New research by ACT shows "the level of academic achievement that students attain by eighth grade has a larger impact on their college and career readiness by the time they graduate from high school than anything that happens academically in high school." The lack of college readiness, as assessed by ACT's three-stage assessment, is "alarming":

• Only 20% of tested high school grads were ready for entry-level college courses in the four areas of biology, social science, English composition and college algebra
• 25% of tested students were not prepared for entry-level college courses in any of the four subject areas.
• Less than 20% of tested eighth graders were on target to be college-ready by the time they graduate.

"This report also reveals that students’ academic readiness for college and career can be improved when students develop behaviors in the upper elementary grades and in middle school that are known to contribute to successful academic performance."

National ACT scores

You may have heard the brief report on NPR this morning and today's Inside Higher Education also talks about the slight drop in this year's composite score compared to last year. Mitigating factors include the substantial increase in the percentage of high school students taking the ACT and even in one case (Michigan) being required to take it. One-year and five-year trends by ethnic group are also available in the IHE article and state comparisons are availabe at ACT's Web site.