Dear Commons Community,

Education Week is reporting that the proportion of American high school graduates in 2011 meeting all four of the ACT’s college-readiness benchmarks continued to rise this year, driven largely by improvements in performance on the mathematics and science portions of the exam, according to data released today.  The annual report from ACT examines the scores of students in the 2011 graduating class who took that college-entrance exam at some point in high school. This year’s report shows that 25 percent of those students produced scores in English, reading, math, and science that correlate with higher chances of earning B’s or C’s in entry-level college courses. That figure has grown steadily in recent years; it was 21 percent in 2005.

The flip side of the good news, however, was also clear:  75% of U.S. students fall short of the ACT’s definition of being prepared for a university education in all four subjects.

Tony