Recent Report Shows Increasing College and Career Readiness Amongst Students

Michigan students are becoming increasingly career and college ready and exhibiting improved test scores according to ACT’s Condition of College and Career Readiness report for Michigan released this morning.

According to the report, Michigan has shown the greatest growth amongst Midwest states with 64 percent of this year’s ACT-tested graduates considered college and career ready in at least one benchmark. This is the fifth straight year in which the state's graduating class showed growth in both composite scores and individual benchmark scores. In addition, the number of graduates who met all four benchmarks increased, while those who met none declined.

“The fact of the matter is that our students are showing measurable growth when it comes to becoming more college and career ready,” said Wendy Zdeb-Roper, Executive Director of the Michigan Association of Secondary School Principals. “The data clearly show that students who participate in Michigan Merit Curriculum core courses receive significantly higher test scores across all four benchmarks and are therefore more likely to be ready for college or a career coming out of high school than those who do not – and it starts early on.”

According to the ACT report: “Younger students who take a rigorous curricula are more prepared to graduate from high school ready for college or career. Moreover, research found that ‘the level of academic achievement that students attain by eighth grade has a larger impact on their college and career readiness by the time they graduate high school than anything that happens academically in high school.’”

“By encouraging students to participate in MMC core courses and utilizing the ACT testing continuum we can better prepare our students and be able to accurately measure even more student data. This will allow for early intervention and better enable us as educators to close the achievement gap,” Zdeb-Roper said. “With the second year of state-supported Explore and Plan testing upon us and possible funding for a third year on the horizon, it’s very important that we continue to collect this important data, track student growth and encourage them to become college and career ready from Kindergarten through senior year.”

For more information and the data released, visit www.act.org/readiness/2012 and click on Michigan.