
No Progress in Closing the Racial Gap in ACT Test Scores
The ACT data shows that only 5 percent of Black ACT test takers met the organization’s college readiness standards in all four major subject areas.
The ACT data shows that only 5 percent of Black ACT test takers met the organization’s college readiness standards in all four major subject areas.
According to The College Board, whites are more than three times as likely as blacks to be ready for the academic rigors of college.
Only 4 percent of black ACT test takers were deemed to meet the college readiness benchmark in all subjects. For whites, the figure was 31 percent.
In 2011, 223,000 African American high school seniors took the American College Testing Program’s ACT college entrance examination. This is an increase of 47 percent from 2007. While there was a slight improvement from last year’s average score of 16.9, this year’s score is exactly the same average score that black students achieved in 2007. For whites the average ACT score in 2007 was 22.6. By 2011 the average white score had improved a full point to 23.6.