College readiness by the numbers

Today's lesson is about minding what you measure.

Once again, Iowa topped nearly all the states for student ACT scores. Only Minnesota beat them out, with an average composite score of 22.9 to Iowa's 22.3.

Both states scored higher than the national average composite score - 21.1 out of a possible 36 points. But what do those numbers mean?

For a student, an ACT score in the low 20s would be enough to get into a state university - pretty good. For states, it's not that simple.

First, only 61 percent of Iowa's 2011 graduates even took the ACT - another average.

At the district level, the numbers vary widely. Three out of four Linn-Mar graduates took it (their composite score: 24.2), while only 41 percent of Waterloo grads did (their score: 21.1).

Break the scores down differently, and you get a different picture: Only 31 percent of those Iowa students who took the ACT passed all four of the test's College Readiness Benchmarks, meaning they have an even chance of earning a B or higher in first-semester college English, reading, math and science classes.

So about one-third of the two-thirds of 2011 grads who even took the ACT - college-bound students with families willing or able to shell out the $49.50 test fee, sometimes hundreds more dollars for prep courses and workbooks - are truly ready to dive in to college coursework.

Of course, that doesn't include the 11 percent of Iowa students who never graduate at all.

That has state officials calling for all high school juniors to take the test.

It would, I assume, be in addition to the Iowa Assessments - formerly known as the Iowa Tests of Educational Development - annual tests taken by high schoolers, including juniors, to help us measure students' college and career readiness.

Both are part of a trend toward raising standards for Iowa's high school students - expecting mastery, not just proficiency of core subjects. And, good news for students in poverty: The test would be free.

A handful of states already require all high school juniors to take the ACT. Linn-Mar Superintendent Katie Mulholland, who was working in Illinois when that state started requiring the test of all students, recently told a Gazette reporter: “If we arm our kids with ACT scores, we might open their world to what could be.”

And it's true: If all Iowa juniors take it, there are bound to be some who are surprised by their numbers - to think of themselves as college material.

But as college becomes increasingly unaffordable for working people, as student debt continues to climb, what will those numbers mean?

Comments: (319) 339-3154;

jennifer.hemmingsen@sourcemedia.net