Analysis: Illinois Students Not Ready For College
CHICAGO (CBS) - Many juniors in some of the most prestigious suburban high schools are not considered ready for college.
A Chicago Tribune analysis based on ACT test scores last spring indicated that eight in 10 Illinois high school juniors are not ready for college in all subjects.
At the posh Lake Forest, Deerfield, Northbrook and Hinsdale high schools, more than 40 percent of students fell short of "college readiness benchmarks," the Tribune reported. More than half of the juniorso in Lincolnshire and Naperville also fell short, the Tribune reported.
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The ACT company sets benchmarks at certain scores for each of its four subjects. To be considered ready for college, a student must score at least 18 in English, 21 in reading, 22 in math, and 24 in science, the Tribune reported.
The ACT company says students who fail to meet those scores might end up struggling in college classes, or else end up in remedial courses, the newspaper reported.
The Tribune analysis made many educators angry. The newspaper reported that the school officials questioned the benchmarks the ACT uses, but had difficulty explaining why their students had been deemed unprepared for college.
The Tribune looked at the scores of more than 133,000 Illinois juniors required to take the ACT during state testing in April. Overall, just 19.3 percent met readiness scores in all subjects. And more than 35 percent didn't meet any benchmarks.
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