Utah holding steady in ACT scores

Utah high school students showed little improvement over last year's ACT results but are holding steady when it comes to preparing for college.

For the past five years, Utah has scored above the national average in all four subjects the test measures — English, math, reading and science — and this year's overall average score, 21.8, ended up being the exact same as last year.

The results, released today, are pleasing to John Jesse, director of assessment for the State Board of Education, because participation was markedly up this year.

"Usually when participation rates go up, it has a negative impact on scoring," Jesse said.

More than 600 additional students took the test this year in Utah, partly due to the availability of fee waivers. ACT Inc. promised to cover the cost of the test for eligible students across the country. Nationally, about 400,000 of the nearly 1.5 million test-takers took advantage of the extra assistance based on household income.

The numbers indicate that more people are interested in pursuing post-secondary education, although graduation rates have been down the past year. The ACT provides benchmark scores, or minimum scores needed to indicate a student is ready to succeed, that pretty reasonably predict future college outcomes.

In Utah, more than 16,300 of the student testers enlisted in a more rigorous high school experience, including four years of English and three years each of math, social studies and natural science. That level of rigor, experts say, helps set kids up for what they will encounter in college.

"The essential task is preparing kids and adults with the skills needed to succeed in a wide variety of options," said William A. Sederburg, Utah's commissioner of Higher Education. "There is a very high correlation between the basic skill set and test scores."

Utah students continually do well in English and reading comprehension but struggle, along with much of the nation, with math and science sections of the ACT. According to this year's results, only 28 percent of ACT-tested 2009 graduates are ready for college-level biology, and just 42 percent are ready for college-level algebra.

Jesse and Sederburg said preparation is a system-wide issue, ranging from kindergarten to college graduation, and a number of different programs are in effect to address it.