ACT: Iowa students not ready to fill hot career fields

Iowa high schools aren't turning out enough graduates prepared for college in the state's five fastest-growing career fields, a new report from ACT says.

The biggest gaps in college readiness are in “computer/information specialties” and “marketing/sales,” the report says. Job openings in both are expected to be 7 percent greater than the percentage of 2009 high school grads interested in them.

Health care, management and education also face a shortfall in prepared high school grads, according to the report.

In addition, the report said, students who expressed interest in the hot fields often failed to meet the ACT test's recommended College Readiness Benchmarks in English, reading, math and science. The benchmarks set minimum scores by subject area needed for a student to succeed in a typical first-year college credit course in that subject.

To improve career readiness, ACT recommended that state education administrators and school districts adopt fewer, but essential, college graduation standards and a rigorous core curriculum that includes four years of English and three years of math, science and social studies.

ACT also recommended making courses more difficult and setting clear standards for college and career readiness.

The report by ACT, an assessment and research organization, compared work force need projections for 2006 through 2016 from Iowa Workforce Development with its findings on college and career readiness of the 2009 graduating class.