The rigor of core courses in our nation’s high schools is at risk. At a time when it is becoming more important for U.S. workers to compete internationally, our high school graduates are in danger of entering college or the workforce without sufficient academic preparation.

A new ACT report, Rigor at Risk: Reaffirming Quality in the High School Core Curriculum, reveals that, while taking the right number of courses is better than not, it is no longer enough to guarantee that students will graduate ready for life after graduation. ACT’s national college readiness indicators—the ACT College Readiness Benchmarks—show that three out of four ACT-tested 2006 high school graduates who took a core curriculum were not prepared to take at least one credit-bearing entry-level college course and earn a course grade of C or better in it unless they took a number of courses beyond the minimum core.

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