Hawai'i ranks No. 7 in latest ACT test

By Fredreka Schouten
Gannett News Service

WASHINGTON — Hawai'i students capped their sixth straight year of solid performance on the ACT exam, improving their scores slightly and tying for seventh-best in the nation.

The Hawai'i scores reflect a combination of public and private school results. Nationally, nearly 40 percent of graduating seniors take the ACT, while in Hawai'i only 18 percent took the test.

National scores on the ACT college entrance exam dipped slightly this year, which officials say is linked to record numbers of students taking the test. The average composite score for the class of 2002 was 20.8 out of a possible 36, compared with an average of 21 last year.

Hawai'i students had an average composite score of 22.

Maine and Oregon had the highest scores, 22.5. Iowa and New Hampshire tied Hawai'i at 22, while New York, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin scored slightly better.

Last year, Hawai'i seniors scored an average of 21.7, 11th-highest in the nation. For the previous four years, Hawai'i's score was 21.6.

The American College Testing Program is a college preparatory exam often used for college admissions. Unlike the SAT admissions test, which is separated into math and verbal sections, the ACT covers English, math, reading and science.

The ACT Assessment report also shows that more than a quarter of the 1.1 million test-takers scored 17 or lower, suggesting they are only marginally prepared or not ready for college work. These students are struggling with basic skills such as solving one-step arithmetic problems or figuring out the main point of a paragraph.

Christopher Cross, a senior fellow with the Center on Education Policy, said the weak performance of so many graduates is troubling.

"If our objective is to get all students educated so they have the option to go to college or get skilled jobs, this is a reminder that we still have a great deal of work to do," Cross said.

The dip in scores among this year's high-school graduates was caused in large part by the flood of 11th-graders required to take the test in Colorado and Illinois as part of new state testing requirements, ACT officials said. As a result, about 57,000 more graduates in those states took the ACT in 2002 than in the previous year.

Nationally, nearly 40 percent of high-school graduates take the ACT, a curriculum-based test of what students have learned in the four subject areas.

Results for the SAT exam — taken by 45 percent of high-school graduates last year — will be released later this month.

The scores point to the advantages of following a rigorous college-preparatory curriculum — defined as four or more years of English and three years of social science, natural science and algebra-level math and beyond.

Graduates who did not take such a curriculum earned an average composite score of 19.2. Those who did scored 21.8.

The results also demonstrate the persistent gap in academic achievement between white students and some minorities. On average, white students earned a composite score of 21.7. Black students posted the lowest average score of any ethnic group: 16.8.

Among other findings:

• 13 percent earned a composite score of 27 or higher, acceptable at highly selective colleges.
• 42 percent scored 22 or higher, preferred at selective schools.
• 73 percent attained 18 or higher, acceptable at colleges with liberal admissions policies.