Five Years Of Flat ACT Scores Show Test-And-Punish Policies Failed To Improve Average College Readiness Or Significantly Narrow Racial Gaps

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for use with annual ACT scores August 2015

FIVE YEARS OF FLAT ACT SCORES SHOW TEST-AND-PUNISH POLICIES
FAILED TO IMPROVE AVERAGE COLLEGE READINESS
OR SIGNIFICANTLY NARROW RACIAL GAPS

Five consecutive years of stagnant results on the ACT, the nation’s most widely used college admissions exam, further demonstrate the need to end the nation’s failed experiment with test-driven education, according to the National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest).

Reacting to ACT scores released today, FairTest Public Education Director Bob Schaeffer explained, “Proponents of federal and state programs, such as ‘No Child Left Behind ‘ and ‘Race to the Top,’ promised that focusing public school classrooms on test results would boost college readiness while sharply narrowing gaps between racial groups. The ACT data reveal that did not happen.”

The federal government’s National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and the SAT admissions test also report stagnant college readiness scores and racial gaps.

Schaeffer continued, “The public gets the message: test-driven school ‘reform’ does not work. The recent Gallup/Phi Delta Kappan poll shows that Americans are fed up with politically mandated test misuse and overuse. Most oppose rating students, teachers and schools based on standardized exam scores. They have seen how testing overkill undermines academic quality and equity. It is time for elected officials in Washington, DC and state capitals to end disastrous test-and-punish policies.”

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COMPOSITE SCOREFIVE-YEAR SCORE TREND
2015 COLLEGE-BOUND SENIORS AVERAGE ACT SCORES
1,924,436 test takers
(2011 – 2015)
ALL TEST-TAKERS 21.0 -0.1
African-American 17.1 + 0.1
American Indian 17.9 – 0.8
Asian 23.9 + 0.3
Hispanic 18.9 + 0.2
White 22.4 0.0
Female 21.0 0.0
Male 21.1 – 0.1
Source: ACT, The Condition of College & Career Readiness 2015









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