The Condition of College & Career Readiness 2016

Posted by ACT on September 5, 2016

Average ACT Scores Drop; Racial and Ethnic Gaps Remain

An annual report shows that average ACT scores fell in 2016, and while the number of underserved students taking the ACT has increased significantly since 2012, those students’ average scores have for the most part stayed level or dropped. Within underrepresented groups, test-taking in recent years has increased most notably among Hispanic and African American students, according to ACT’s “The Condition of College & Career Readiness 2016.” But the average composite score for African American students remained steady, while among Hispanic students it dropped by 0.2 points. In fact, in the last five years, only the ACT scores of Asian Americans have improved, while other racial and ethnic groups have remained level or dropped. Many educators have worried about the lingering large gaps among different racial groups, which remain evident in this year’s average scores.

http://www.act.org/content/dam/act/unsecured/documents/CCCR_National_2016.pdf