Out of Control

According to a new study by the college entrance testing organization ACT, only 22 percent of the 1.2 million students who took its test this year were ready for college-level work in English, math and science:

"We've made virtually no progress in the last 10 years" helping students to become ready for college or jobs, said the report, which is being issued today. "And from everything we've seen, it's not going to get better any time soon."
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It found that the proportion of students taking what it deemed a minimum core of college preparatory courses - four years of English and three years each of mathematics, science and social studies - had risen only slightly in 10 years: to 56 percent in 2004, from 54 percent in 1994.

Another problem, the study said, is that even those who took the full core curriculum were not necessarily prepared for college, since some of their courses were not rigorous enough.

Some troubling quotations:

"We've made virtually no progress in the last 10 years" helping students to become ready for college or jobs, said the report, which is being issued today. "And from everything we've seen, it's not going to get better any time soon."
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The ACT researchers said that their study had led them "to rethink whether the core curriculum" adequately prepared students "for success after high school."