Published: August 23, 2009 12:20 am      

A closer look at progress 

This past week, the American College Testing program (ACT) released their national reports on the most recent graduating senior high school class. The ACT examination is taken by about one-and-a-half million graduating seniors every year, and the scores are used as a predictor of success in college. There are four components of the test: English, math, reading, and science. Once again, out of all the states and the District of Columbia, Mississippi found itself last in just about every component of the ACT test.

At first glance, it is easy to use this information as an indictment against our state K-12 educational system. However, in the interest of fairness, let’s take a closer look at how our graduating seniors performed on the test.



The Good

• Math scores have increased steadily over the last five years.  In 2005, Mississippi scores in this section averaged a woeful 17.8, nearly 3 points lower than the national average. However, Mississippi students have scored higher every year since then, raising the state average to 18.3. This 0.5 gain is outpacing the national average increase of 0.3 points over the same time period.

• State scores have increased in all sections of the ACT over the past five years. In addition to the Mississippi gain in math scores, English has risen from 18.8 to 19.1, reading has risen from 18.9 to 19.0, and science has risen from 18.7 to 18.9.

 

The Bad

• While Mississippi state scores have improved over the five-year trend, averages in three of the four sections have not shown improvement over the past year. Since last year, the state average score has declined in two of the sections.  English scores dropped from a five-year high of 19.3 to 19.1, while reading scores dropped from 19.1 to 19.0. Science scores remained at 18.7, showing no improvement over the last four years.

• Here’s how the Magnolia State stacks up against the other 49 states and the District of Columbia: Overall score, 51st place; Math, 51st place; English, 46th place; Reading, 51st place; Science, 50th place.

 

The Ugly

• ACT has derived benchmark scores in each of the test sections. These benchmarks are predictors of success in college, indicating a 50 percent chance of getting a B or higher in the subject area and a 75 percent chance of getting a C or higher. Those benchmark scores are as follows:  English – 18; Math – 22; Reading – 21; Science – 24. While a decent 57 percent of Mississippi students scored at or above the benchmark in English, only 20 percent scored at or above the benchmark in Math, 34 percent in Reading, and 14 percent in science. Worse, the rate of our state’s benchmark achievers in Math and Science are half that of the national average.  Nationally, 42 percent of students scored at benchmark or higher in Math and 28 percent achieved the benchmark in Science. (Note: the national average for English was 67 percent and Reading was 53 percent)

• Only 10 percent of Mississippi students scored at or above all four benchmarks, compared to 23 percent nationally. 

 

Is “the ugly” really that ugly?  When looking at just these numbers, many conclude that the Mississippi educational system is horrid. However, we must be careful to look at the whole picture here.  Consider this – not all states test equally. 

In Mississippi, 93 percent of our high school graduates (25,976 students) took the ACT test. Of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, only seven states tested more than 90 percent of their students. Interestingly, not a single one of those seven states scored higher than the national average in any category.  On the other hand, 18 states tested less than 25 percent of their graduating students. Student scores in these states were at or higher than the national average in every single category. 

There is further evidence to show that a larger number of students taking the test can have a negative effect on state averages. For example, the Wyoming state ACT composite average fell from 21.1 to 20.0 in one year (and averages correspondingly fell by over a whole point in nearly every test section) because the number of students taking the test  increased from 4,361 last year to 5,530 this year, a 27 percent increase in test takers.   

Now, let’s further examine Mississippi’s last place ranking in the percentage of students scoring at or above the benchmark in all four ACT categories. Many of the New England states have triple the percentage (30 percent or more) of their students achieving the benchmarks than our Mississippi students (only 10 percent). Does this mean those states have three times the students that are prepared to succeed in college? Not necessarily.

Our 10 percent represents about 2,600 students that are projected to succeed in college. Five of the 11 states boasting 30 percent of their student achievers didn’t even test that many students. In those states, the total number of students achieving the benchmark in all categories (with the percentages in parentheses) were:  New Hampshire (36 percent) – 889 students; Vermont (34) – 683; Maine (34) – 489; Delaware (31) – 328; and Rhode Island (30) – 393. 

If we use the ACT as a sole measure of preparedness (which we absolutely should not), then Mississippi has prepared nearly as many students for success in college as all five of the “higher achieving” New England states. Think about that for a while.

Does this information vindicate our K-12 educational system? Hardly, but it does indicate that we must take a closer look at what we use to measure our progress. What is certain is that we must continue to push for higher educational standards and results in our schools, regardless of what the measures seem to indicate. 



Crystal Dupré is publisher of The Meridian Star. E-mail her at cdupre@themeridianstar.com