ACT Aware!

Only 51 percent of 2005 ACT-tested high school graduates are ready for college-level reading.

ACT’s College Readiness Benchmark for Reading …Represents the level of achievement required for students to have a high probability of success in …first-year college courses generally considered to be typically reading dependent. a 75 percent chance of earning a C or better a 50 percent chance of earning a B or better

A survey by the National Association of Manufacturers, Andersen, and the Center for Workforce Success (2001) found that 80 percent of businesses had a moderate to serious shortage of qualified job candidates, citing poor reading as a key reason.

Another survey found that 38 percent of job applicants taking employer-administered tests lacked the reading skills needed in the jobs for which they applied; this percentage had doubled in four years, not just because applicants lacked basic skills but also because the reading requirements for these jobs had increased so rapidly. (Center for Workforce Preparation, 2002).

More eighth- and tenth- graders are on track to being ready for college-level reading than are actually ready when they graduate from high school.

Why are students losing momentum in high school? One reason may be that they are not being asked to meet specific, rigorous reading standards during their high school years—a time when it is crucial for them to continue refining their reading skills.

Meltzer (2002) reports: Overwhelmed by higher content standards, many Meltzer (2002) reports: Overwhelmed by higher content standards, many . . . high school teachers feel under pressure to “cover” more content than ever before and are resistant to “adding” literacy responsibilities to their crowded course calendars.

. . .Since literacy is not “visible” as a content area, it is not “owned” by any specific department. The English department, it is wrongly assumed, “takes care of that.”

Even where reading is an element of the high school curriculum—usually as part of English or social studies courses—ACT research suggests that low teacher expectations can prevent some students from being taught the reading skills they need for college and work.

According to data gathered as part of the 2002–2003 ACT National Curriculum Survey® (ACT, Inc., 2003), if teachers perceived students to be primarily college bound, they were more likely to focus their instruction on higher level critical reading skills. If they perceived students not to be college bound, they were less likely to teach these critical reading skills. (Patterson, Happel, & Lyons, 2004; Patterson & Duer, in press).

Students who meet the Reading Benchmark are more likely than students who do not meet the Benchmark to enroll in college (74 percent vs. 59 percent) earn a grade of B or higher (63 percent vs. 36 percent) in first-year college U.S. History courses earn a grade of B or higher (64 percent vs. 39 percent) in first-year college Psychology courses earn a first-year college GPA of 2.0 or higher (87 percent vs. 76 percent) return for a second year of college at the same institution (78 percent vs. 67 percent).

It seems likely that while much of the reading material that students encounter in high school may reflect progressively greater content challenges, they may not actually require a commensurate level of text complexity.