Sunday, August 25, 2013

The Future's So Bright....

26% are prepared? 
Well I guess
I'm in the other 84%.
Twenty-six percent of high-school graduates who took the ACT in 2013 met all four of its college-readiness benchmarks, according to a report released on Wednesday by ACT Inc., the organization that administers the test.

The benchmarks were designed by ACT to indicate the minimum scores needed on each subject it tests to signify a 50-percent chance of earning a B or higher, or a 75-percent chance of earning a C or higher, in corresponding first-year college courses.

More.

10 comments:

  1. 26% of high school graduates. That is, 74% of those that graduated from high school are still not ready for college. Bloody hell. And I'd like to see the exam: I wonder how difficult it really is. Great graphic, by the way.

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  2. A nation of ignoramuses is that much easier to fool.

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  3. And yet it becomes our responsibility to catch them up so they can learn at a college level???

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  4. Um, 26% + 84% = 110%, you know. But you did know that. Sure you did.

    And yes, 26% of first-year undergraduates being ready for college sounds about right. Only 10-20% ever get anything approaching a college education, you know. As you can see, only 10-20% of them even try.

    I'd say about half of the graduates here at Middlin' State can write at what a generation ago would have been considered 9th-grade level. And as far as mathematical skill goes, HA! Fewer than quarter of our graduates do math at 8th-grade level. I therefore grade accordingly, and catch plenty of crap for it.

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    Replies
    1. Is it possible that the mods were making a joke with those percentages?

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    2. It's possible, but with the level of mathematical skill my students show, if they did this it'd be much more likely that they screwed it up. But of course, one should never jump to conclusions too soon, even though nearly always it'd save time in the long run if one did.

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    3. I can assure you Cal knows how to fucking add.

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    4. Yeah, I thought it was funny if the girl in the graphic COULDN'T add, since the post was about how poorly students have done on a standardized test. If the math was right, she'd likely be smart enough to go to college. If she got the addition correct, the "joke" would not make any sense. (And I know it's not some great one-liner, but it does require, I think, the bad math.)

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    5. I LOVED the bad math. Of course, I also didn't notice it was "bad math" until people started to comment on it, and then I thought it was a brilliant commentary!

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  5. > If the math was right, she'd likely be smart enough to go to college.

    Um, Cal? Being able to add 8 plus 2 correctly qualifies one for college, these days? It used to qualify one for 2nd grade, but that was a wee while ago, nearly one generation.

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