New ACT Report – It shows this; it shows that

The inevitable spin on the new ACT scores for our 11th grade students is starting, and a surprising source of conflicting views has emerged.

First comes this somewhat optimistic assessment in the Lexington Herald-Leader’s coverage:

“Education Commissioner Jon Draud contends the ACT scores don’t necessarily indicate Kentucky students performed poorly.

‘When you have everyone in the population taking the test, you’re just not going to have a high percentage that are going to be college-ready,” said Draud. “You can expect the benchmark scores to be lower when you include all of the population in the test-taking population.’”

OK, so low scores didn’t mean our kids performed poorly.


But, then comes this from the Courier-Journal:

“The results didn't surprise Kentucky Education Commissioner Jon Draud, who said he expected the scores to be low because every junior was required to take the ACT test, many for the first time.

But he wasn't satisfied with the results.

‘I think it shows that a lot of our kids are definitely not ready to go to college, and that is not something we like to see,’ he said. ‘We have to do a better job at getting our kids prepared for post-secondary education.’”

Hmm. Now, the commissioner isn’t satisfied with the results and a lot of kids definitely are not ready for college, and that isn’t something he likes to see.

So, did our kids perform poorly, or not?

When, after 18 years of KERA, only 10 percent of our students meet the ACT benchmark scores for adequate college preparation and just two percent of our African-Americans do, I think you can decide that question for yourself.