National Press Release
August 21, 2002
| Note to Editors/Reporters: This news release and accompanying documents report information about students in the high school graduating class of 2002 who took the ACT Assessment. 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. You must contact district and school offices for local information. |
Average National ACT Score Is 20.8 for Class of 2002
Record Number of Students Take ACT
- Expanded pool of test-takers results in greater opportunity for students to consider attending college
- Scores point to the importance of rigorous, college-prep coursework
- Males and females earn equivalent composite scores in states where all students take ACT
IOWA CITY, Iowa—The national average composite score for the ACT Assessment is 20.8 for the high school graduating class of 2002, a year that included a record number of ACT test-takers. More than 1.1 million members of the class of 2002 took the ACT Assessment nationwide.
The national average composite score of 20.8 is down slightly from 21.0 last year. The composite score had held steady at 21.0 since 1997.
The drop in the composite score is not a surprise. The members of the Class of 2002 who took the ACT Assessment were a more heterogeneous group than ever before. Through bold initiatives in Colorado and Illinois, all 11th graders in both states were required to take the ACT beginning last year as part of their statewide achievement testing programs. As a result, this year’s national score report includes around 30,000 additional students (over last year) who were not intending to attend college at the time that they took the ACT and were not taking the rigorous “core” courses that would prepare them for college-level coursework. This contributed to an increase in the percentage of students in this year’s score report who did not take the core college-preparatory coursework in high school.
Colorado and Illinois officials chose to administer the ACT Assessment to all 11th graders because it is a curriculum-based achievement test that matched up closely with their state learning standards. A secondary reason was to encourage students to attend college who had not previously considered it as an option.
“The end result was very positive,” said ACT Chief Executive Officer Richard L. Ferguson. “Thousands of students in Illinois and Colorado who had not indicated an interest in attending college were identified as ready for college coursework. As a result, many of those students were encouraged to enter college this fall. Taking the ACT opened doors of opportunity for these students.”
The Importance of Taking “Core” Coursework
This year’s expanded pool of ACT-tested seniors resulted in a smaller percentage of students who reported taking the recommended “core” college preparatory coursework—fewer than 62 percent this year compared with nearly 64 percent last year (based on those students who reported their course-taking behavior).
ACT defines the core college-preparatory curriculum as four or more years of English and three or more years each of math (algebra and above), social sciences, and natural sciences. Because the content of the ACT Assessment is based on the subject-matter skills taught in America’s schools and deemed important for incoming college freshman to know, students who take the recommended core curriculum in high school tend to earn higher scores on the ACT—and are better prepared for college—than those who don’t. Seniors in the class of 2002 who took at least the core curriculum earned an average composite score of 21.8 on the ACT Assessment this year, while those who took less than the core curriculum earned an average score of 19.2.
“This year’s results point out the importance of taking rigorous, college-preparatory coursework in high school,” said Ferguson. “Students who do otherwise will find themselves academically under-prepared when they arrive at college.”
The ACT Assessment is a curriculum-based achievement test made up of four separate exams in English, reading, mathematics and science. The ACT is scored on a scale of 1 to 36, with 36 being the highest possible score. The test is administered in all 50 states and is the predominant college entrance exam in 25 states. ACT scores are accepted at virtually all colleges and universities in the nation. A one-of-a-kind national curriculum survey, conducted by ACT every three years, is used to ensure that the ACT Assessment reflects what high schools are teaching and what students are expected to know when they begin their first year in college.
Males and Females Have Equivalent Composite Scores Where All Students Tested
There was only a slight difference in average ACT scores of male students and female students in the graduating class of 2002. The national average ACT composite score for males (20.9) was two-tenths of a point higher than that for females (20.7). However, this difference is not reflected when scores of all public high school graduates are compared, such as in the states of Colorado and Illinois. In Illinois, males and females earned identical average composite scores on the ACT, while in Colorado, females outperformed males by one-tenth of a point.
Female test-takers continued to outnumber males by a substantial margin on a national basis, comprising 56 percent of the ACT-tested seniors in 2002. In contrast, the numbers of female and male test-takers were more balanced in both Illinois and Colorado (51% female, 49% male in both states), where all students took the ACT Assessment as 11th graders.
Males and females continue to show strengths in different subject areas. Males again earned higher average scores than females on ACT’s mathematics and science tests, while females earned higher average scores on the English and reading tests. This was true in Illinois, Colorado, and nationally.
Small Score Declines Among All Racial/Ethnic Groups
Among various racial/ethnic groups, Caucasians in the graduating class of 2002 earned the highest average ACT composite score at 21.7, followed closely by Asian-Americans at 21.6, Puerto Rican/Hispanic students at 18.8, American Indians/Alaska natives at 18.6, Mexican-American/Chicano students at 18.2, and African-American students at 16.8. Students who took the core college-preparatory curriculum earned higher average scores than those who did not in all racial/ethnic groups.
Average ACT scores were down slightly among students in all racial/ethnic groups compared to last year, most by 0.1 to 0.3 points, again due to the expanded pool of test-takers and the larger number of test-takers who were not preparing for college. Hispanic students in the class of 2002 earned a particularly lower average composite score than last year, dropping by more than half a point (0.6). This decline can be attributed to the 21-percent increase in the number of Hispanic students tested this year, and the fact that a large number of those students did not take a core college-preparatory curriculum. The average ACT composite score earned by Hispanic students not taking the core curriculum was 17.4. In comparison, Hispanic students who took the core curriculum earned an average composite score of 20.0.
“Research recently conducted by ACT suggested that urban Hispanic and African American high school students don’t always get the information they need, when they need it, to adequately prepare for college,” said Ferguson. “The challenge facing school districts is to provide all students and their parents with the expertise and resources they need to get ready for college-level coursework.”
Preparation is a clear factor in the scores earned by racial/ethnic minority students on the ACT Assessment. Seven in 10 Asian-American test-takers (based on those who reported their course-taking behavior) took the core college-preparatory curriculum, and their mean composite score was well above the national average. Sixty-three percent of reporting Caucasian students took the core curriculum. No more than six in 10 of the reporting students in any other racial/ethnic minority group, each of whose mean composite scores fell below the national average, took the core curriculum.
“All students need strong guidance in educational and career planning to take the appropriate courses that will help them accomplish their goals,” said Ferguson.
More Than Four in 10 Test-Takers Prepared for Selective or Highly Selective College
Among the students in the Class of 2002 who took the ACT Assessment:
- 13 percent earned a composite score of 27 or higher, which is within the range of scores typically preferred by highly selective colleges and universities;
- 42 percent attained composite scores of 22 or higher, which is within the range typically preferred by colleges with selective admissions policies;
- 58 percent attained composite scores of 20 or higher, which is within the range typically preferred by colleges with traditional admissions policies;
- 73 percent achieved composite scores of 18 or higher, which is within the range typically preferred by colleges with liberal admissions policies.
More than a fourth (27%) of ACT-tested graduates in 2002, however, attained composite scores of 17 or lower. These scores suggest the students are marginally prepared or not ready to perform at the college level and are likely struggling with such fundamental academic skills as:
- Identifying the purpose of a particular sentence in a paragraph
- Solving routine, one-step arithmetic problems
- Reading tables and graphs
- Drawing simple conclusions about the main idea of a paragraph
- Understanding basic terms in science
- Identifying direct relationships between variables in a simple experiment
Some college and university systems, in partnership with school systems, are investing in programs that begin preparing students for college at an earlier age. There has been significant growth in the use of ACT’s eighth grade assessment, EXPLORE, and its 10th grade assessment, PLAN. Through integrated, longitudinal systems such as this, student academic progress is measured, schools intervene earlier to help students achieve, and students can more effectively plan for college and careers. ACT’s system—called the Educational Planning and Assessment System (EPAS)—suggests high-quality instructional activities for teachers; connects teaching, learning, and assessment; and documents the accomplishment of standards and objectives.
“It’s important for schools, parents, and students to know what skills and knowledge students possess and what courses they need to take to prepare adequately for college and for their careers,” said Ferguson. “It’s also important for that information to be communicated to the student so that appropriate guidance and intervention can take place. This is what ACT is all about—providing information that students, teachers, and parents can use so that students can achieve their goals.”
2002 National and State Scores
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