From "The Black Star Project."
College Ready Overall
Percent of 2011 ACT-tested Illinois high school graduates that passed
ACT college readiness benchmarks in all four tested subjects -
English, reading, math and science.
All students - 23%
African American - 4%
White - 33%
Hispanic - 9%
Asian - 44%
Source: 2011 Illinois ACT Profile Report Reflects public, private and
parochial school students
Three of four state grads not ready
for college, ACT scores show
BY ROSALIND ROSSI Education Reporter
August 16, 2011
More than three-quarters of Illinois high school graduates aren't
completely ready for college, based on their ACT scores, state results
of the college-admission test released Wednesday show.
Only 23 percent of Illinois' 2011 high school graduating class -
public and private - met college readiness standards in all four ACT
subjects tested: English, reading, math and science.
The biggest drag on preparedness, data showed, was college-readiness
in science. There, only 28 percent of the 2011 Illinois graduating
class scored high enough to predict they will probably land a C or
better in the typical college freshmen science course in biology, the
ACT report indicated.
Among the state's African-American students, only 6 percent met that
same college-ready science bar.
For Illinois, the science results are frustrating but also a call to
action, said Gabrielle Lyon, founder of Project Exploration, a program
that brings out-of-school science to Chicago public school students in
grades six to 12.
Two national laboratories - Fermi and Argonne - lie within 40 miles of
Chicago, Lyon noted. The six-county area is home to Baxter, Abbott and
Bell laboratories.
"This is a science-rich environment with no shortage of really great
things going on,'' Lyon said. "Illinois has what it takes to turn
those scores around. Professional scientists of every stripe - we have
to bridge that gap.''
Among the good news in the report was that Illinois' overall composite
score on the 36-point ACT rose to 20.9 in 2011, up from 20.7 the year
before.
And although Illinois is one of only four states that require all
public high school students to take the ACT, its composite is not that
far from the national average of 21.1, noted Mary Fergus, spokeswoman
for the Illinois State Board of Education.
Plus, Illinois' average ACT score of 20.9 beat that of the three other
states that mandate the ACT - Colorado (20.7), Michigan (20.0) and
Kentucky (19.6).
ACT developed its readiness benchmarks by looking at the grades
students racked up in their first-year college courses in English,
social studies, algebra and biology, and then "back-mapping" those
grades to the scores those same students posted in high school on the
ACT, said ACT spokesman Ed Colby.
To eventually earn at least a C in a typical college freshmen biology
class, ACT predicts, high school students need at least a 24 on the
ACT science subtest - the highest of all the benchmark levels. Other
college readiness benchmarks are: a 22 in ACT math to be ready for
college algebra; a 21 in ACT reading to be prepared for college social
science, and an 18 in ACT English to be prepared for a college English
composition class.
Several experts blamed Illinois' poor science showing on the increased
marginalization science has seen in schools worried about facing No
Child Left Behind sanctions tied to reading and math results.
"I work with [Chicago public] elementary schools where teachers will
tell you very explicitly that they are told not to spend time in
science,'' said Northwestern University professor Steven McGee, who
oversees a Northwestern program offering a new "teacher leadership''
credential in science.
"Some schools do a rotating schedule, where they spend five weeks on
science and five weeks on social studies. But they have math and
reading every day.''
And, McGee noted, in elementary school, Illinois only tests fourth and
seventh graders in science, while reading and math are tested in every
grade, third through eighth.
"If you wait until high school to focus on [science], your kids are
already way behind,'' McGee said.
Science can be an especially challenging subject, Project
Exploration's Lyon said, because science taps reading, writing and
math skills. As a result, "the gaps you see in science are a magnified
version of what's happening in education generally,'' Lyon said.
"Illinois doesn't have a great record of investing in education, and
the results in science magnify that.''
--
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