1998 National Data Release
August 18, 1998
| NOTE TO EDITORS/REPORTERS: This news release and accompanying documents report information about 1998 high school graduates who took the ACT Assessment for college entrance. States, districts and schools receive similar information about their students. However, ACT releases only national and selected state data; ACT does not release local district or school data.
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MODEST GAINS IN ACT TEST SCORES
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IOWA CITY, IOWA, August 18—While the national average composite score on the ACT, the entrance examination taken by nearly 60 percent of America's entering college freshmen, remained at 21.0, most subgroups of students made modest gains this year on one or more of the ACT tests in English, mathematics, reading and science reasoning.
The national average score was derived from the individual composite scores of the nearly one million 1998 high school graduates who took the ACT Assessment. The ACT score range is 1-36. In addition to a composite score, students receive separate scores in each subject area.
For a record nine consecutive years, the ACT national average has either remained constant or increased slightly.
According to an announcement today from ACT President Richard L. Ferguson, this unprecedented trend in the national average score is good news for those concerned about student achievement.
"More students than ever before are taking the ACT," Ferguson said. "We tested a record 995,000 graduates this year, an increase of 35,000 over 1997 and of nearly 200,000 since the beginning of the decade. Whenever there's a substantial increase in the number of students tested, the additional students must be at least as well-prepared as those tested earlier or the average score will drop. So the fact that the national average has remained steady or increased slightly while the tested population has grown is positive."
Ferguson attributed this trend in ACT-score averages to greater numbers of high school students taking higher-level courses in the academic areas measured by the ACT and required for most college freshmen.
"This period of steady or increasing scores coincides with nationwide efforts to emphasize the need for more demanding college-preparatory coursework," Ferguson said. "That emphasis seems to be producing results."
Research consistently shows that participation in college-preparatory courses is the factor most strongly associated with higher ACT scores, which predict performance in the first year of college. The ACT measures students' levels of development in the subject areas required of most college freshmen.
Large differences between the average scores of students who've taken high-level courses and those who haven't are seen among both males and females, in all racial/ethnic groups and at all socioeconomic levels. These differences relate directly to probabilities of success in the first year of college.
* Achievement Tied to Advanced High School Courses
"Adequate preparation for college is not simply a matter of taking a certain number of courses in each subject area," Ferguson added. "Rather, it's a matter of taking the right courses in each sequence, especially the higher-level courses.
"Students who study algebra 1 and geometry, for example, may feel that that's enough math. But every year their average scores indicate that they're not ready for college-level work. Even those who take algebra 2 score below the average. Students who take at least one other course beyond algebra 2 perform at much higher levels on the ACT math test. They also achieve higher average composite scores, and they are the most likely to qualify for a scholarship and to have a successful first year in college."
Average ACT Scores for Selected Mathematics Course Sequences
| High School Math Course Sequence | ACT Math Average | ACT Composite Average |
| Alg 1, Geom, Alg 2, Trig, Calc or Other Advanced | 23.5 | 23.3 |
| Alg 1, Geom, Alg 2, Trig or Other Advanced | 20.6 | 21.1 |
| Alg 1, Geom, Alg 2 | 17.8 | 18.7 |
| Less Than Three Years of Math | 16.4 | 17.2 |
This relationship between higher-level courses and better preparation for college also holds in science and in English and the social sciences.
Average ACT Scores for Selected Science Course Sequences
| High School Science Course Sequences | ACT Science Reasoning Average | ACT Composite Average |
| General Science, Biology, Chemistry, Physics | 23.0 | 23.1 |
| General Science, Biology, Chemistry | 20.3 | 20.1 |
| Less Than 3 Years of Natural Science | 18.9 | 18.5 |
"Being ill-prepared for the required academic work is one of the chief reasons students drop out of college during their first year," Ferguson said. "But students can become better prepared relatively easily. First, they need to know that each sequence of courses is like a ladder they can climb as high as they like, each rung representing greater chances of later success. Armed with this knowledge, students can see quite clearly the choices they need to make to better prepare themselves for their first-year college courses."
* Career Aspirations Don't Fit Projections
Ferguson highlighted other ACT information suggesting that, in addition to college preparation, students need additional help with career planning.
"Students' current career aspirations seem to be somewhat out of sync with the jobs that will be available for many of them," Ferguson said. "Every year about 42 percent of the students tell us they need more assistance with educational and occupational planning. And when we compare their vocational choices with what we know about the jobs that will probably be available to them, we can see that even more students may actually need help.
"Large numbers are interested in entering crowded fields, where the available openings may decrease in the coming years, while fields that are projected to see major growth don't appear to be attracting students."
The Information Technology Association of America and Virginia Tech University recently conducted a study that found large and growing shortages of information technology professionals. Nearly 350,000 openings are currently available for computer programmers and engineers and systems analysts.
And in the latest Department of Labor projections, the three occupations that should grow fastest now through 2006 are all computer-related and require a bachelor's degree. In light of the openings and the growing demand, fewer students than might be hoped are leaning toward computer careers.
"As they have for years, most students say their first vocational choice is health, business or social sciences (largely psychology and law)," Ferguson said. "Only about 3 percent of this year's college-bound graduates picked computer and information science as their first vocational choice, and another six-tenths of 1 percent want to be computer engineers. These percentages haven't changed in 10 years—4 percent of 1988 graduates chose computer and information science—yet the outlook for the computer field has changed dramatically."
The 5 Occupations With the Fastest Employment Growth, 1996-2006*
| Occupation | Employment | ||
| 1996 | 2006 | Change | |
| Database administrators, computer support specialists and all other computer scientists | 212,000 | 461,000 | 118% |
| Computer Engineers | 216,000 | 451,000 | 109% |
| Systems Analysts | 506,000 | 1,025,000 | 103% |
| Personal and Home Care Aides | 202,000 | 374,000 | 85% |
| Physical & corrective therapy aides | 84,000 | 151,000 | 79% |
* Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Labor
Top 5 Vocational Choices of 1998 ACT-Tested High School Graduates
| Vocational Choice | Number of Students | Percent of Total |
| Health Sciences | 183,804 | 20.0 |
| Business & Management | 103,694 | 11.3 |
| Education/Teacher Education | 88,630 | 9.6 |
| Social Sciences | 79,170 | 8.6 |
| Engineering | 65,242 | 7.1 |
"Many students appear to have good underlying skills for computer-related careers," Ferguson said, "and their interests are similar to those of people who do well in that field. Perhaps they don't make it a vocational choice because they don't know enough about their opportunities or they have a stereotyped image of what it takes to succeed. It seems clear that all of us—educators, parents, policymakers—could do more to strengthen students' preparation for life after high school.
"We need to help students start their career exploration at earlier points in their development—at least as early as the eighth grade. And we need to continue providing them with up-to-date college and career planning information so they can make better decisions that will benefit both themselves and the nation."
* More Minorities Tested; Modest Score Improvements
The number of ACT-tested graduates placing themselves in an ethnic/racial minority group increased by 18,188, or 8.9 percent, over 1997. Improvements in some group scores accompanied this increase.
"Minority students improved their average performance on one or more of the subject tests," Ferguson said, "and Asian Americans also increased their composite score average."
Changes in ACT Test Scores, 1997 to 1998, by Selected Racial/Ethnic Groups
| Racial/Ethnic Group | English | Math | Reading | Science Reasoning | Comp. |
| African American | =* | = | +0.1 | -0.1 | = |
| Asian American | +0.1 | +0.1 | +0.1 | = | + 0.1 |
| Caucasian | = | +0.2 | -0.1 | = | = |
| Native American | +0.1 | +0.1 | = | = | = |
* Indicates no change.
Average scores for students of Hispanic backgrounds reported in 1998 cannot be compared to average scores reported in previous years. This is because newly introduced refinements in the terminology of the two Hispanic categories have changed the size and makeup of these groups.
Among 1998 ACT-tested graduates reporting their racial/ethnic status, 23.9 percent identified themselves as members of a minority group. This is an increase of 0.4 percent over 1997 and an all-time high.
Additional ACT data of interest from the 1998 report:
- Although the number of females tested in 1998 increased by 24,000, the numbers taking less than three years of math and less than three years of science both decreased by about 3,000. Slightly more females than males now take trigonometry and chemistry. Males continue to take more calculus and physics, but the differences between the composite scores of males and females over the last five years are the narrowest ever. The distributions of male and female scores overlap to the extent that there is little practical difference.
- Both males and females increased their composite average in 1998, males from 21.1 to 21.2 and females from 20.8 to 20.9. Males also increased their math score from 21.3 to 21.5, their reading score from 21.0 to 21.1 and their science reasoning score from 21.7 to 21.8. They remained at 19.9 in English.
- Females increased their English score from 20.7 to 20.8, their math score from 20.1 to 20.2 and their reading score from 21.5 to 21.6. They remained at 20.6 in science reasoning.
- As a group, this year's graduates increased their scores on most of the ACT subject-area tests: in English, from 20.3 to 20.4; in math, from 20.6 to 20.8; and in reading, from 21.3 to 21.4. This is the first time in five years that graduates have raised their average scores in as many as three of the four subjects at once. The average score on the science reasoning test remained at 21.0.
Average ACT Subject Test Scores, 1993-98
| 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | |
| English | 20.3 | 20.3 | 20.2 | 20.3 | 20.3 | 20.4 |
| Mathematics | 20.1 | 20.2 | 20.2 | 20.2 | 20.6 | 20.8 |
| Reading | 21.2 | 21.2 | 21.3 | 21.3 | 21.3 | 21.4 |
| Science Reasoning | 20.8 | 20.9 | 21.0 | 21.1 | 21.1 | 21.1 |
1998 High School Profile Report — National Data
ACT Average Composite Scores by State — 1998 ACT-Tested Graduates
Statement by U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley on 1998 ACT Test Results
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