Exam Shows Few Mich. Students Are "College Ready"

LANSING (WWJ/AP) - Michigan students have a long way to go to be "college ready." That's according to the results from the latest Michigan Merit Exam, which shows only about 17 percent of Michigan's high school students scored proficient or better in all ACT subjects.

Results posted Tuesday on the state Education website show 63 percent of the nearly 108,000 high school juniors taking the test this year scored proficient or advanced in reading, compared with 65 percent last year.

Seventy-eight percent scored proficient or advanced in social studies compared with 79 percent in 2010. Forty-one percent of students scored advanced in social studies.  Thirty-three percent were not proficient in math, while 24 percent scored not proficient in science.

Joseph Martineau of the State Education Department says while the state clearly needs to improve, these scores are not out of line with the rest of the country.

"It compares relatively well with other states where all the students take the ACT. It is a relatively rigorous set of standards to be considered college ready on the ACT, especially in science," Martineau told WWJ Newsradio 950.

"You have to receive a 24 on the ACT to be considered college ready in science," he said, adding that he does expect these scores will continue to improve.

"We did see a dip over this last year. The most important thing we're seeing is we're seeing the increasing trend over the last five years, since we started giving the MME, and we would expect that to continue to increase over the next several years as well," Martineau  said.

The tests were taken primarily by last academic year's high school juniors.

Summary data by school or district is available at this link.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.