College preparation of our 11th graders is woeful

The new ACT report for our 11th grade students is out, and the data is very disappointing. The ACT Profile Report indicates that overall only 11 percent of all our 11th grade students are on track for college. That’s a scant improvement of one percentage point from last year, a rate of improvement that is simply unacceptable.

In the critical areas of math and science, the ACT results show our students are indeed woefully under-prepared.


These flat results for the second year of 100 percent ACT testing of Kentucky high school students also indicate that the lack of emphasis on the ACT and college preparation under our old CATS system was a grave mistake. The ACT and the 10th grade PLAN test, also from ACT, only counted for a measly 5 percent of the total CATS score for our high schools. Thus, our schools continued to focus on whatever CATS thought was important, which clearly isn’t what our kids need for postsecondary education, and both our students and the state have suffered in consequence.

For more on the ACT results, check out the freedomkentucky.org Wiki site here.