New Report on College Readiness in Reading

Posted by on May 6, 2006

[posted from Public Education Network newsletter]

HIGH SCHOOL READING NOT CHALLENGING ENOUGH

Only half of the ACT-tested high school graduates in 2005 demonstrated the reading skills they’ll need in the first year of college, the lowest level of reading readiness in a decade. ACT has identified the key to development of college-ready reading skills in high school — substantial experience with complex texts, an area virtually ignored by nearly all state learning standards. ACT research shows the clear benefits experienced by students who are ready for college-level reading: They are more likely to enroll in college in the fall following high school graduation, earn higher grades in college social science courses, earn higher first-year college grade point averages, and return to the same college for a second year in higher proportions than do students who are not ready for college-level reading. Unfortunately, the majority of states don’t define the types of reading materials to which high school students in each specific grade should be exposed, and not a single state defines what complex texts are. All of the state standards are silent on this matter.

http://www.act.org/path/policy/reports/reading.html