ACT Scores For State Grads Are Really Embarrassing This Year
By Kate Shepherd in News on Oct 30, 2015 5:21PM
Many of Illinois's high school students are failing their ACT exams. Five years after Illinois launched the controversial Common Core program, most Illinois 2015 high school graduates are unprepared for college, according to a Tribune analysis of data from the Illinois Report Card.
The average ACT scores for Illinois high schools were not impressive. More than half of the graduates at 482 of the 666 schools with scores did not score at least 21, which is the national average and a benchmark for college success. The average score was a measly 20.5 out of 36 and the average at several public high schools was less than 14.
A shocking 24.9 percent of the public school graduates across the state had scores high enough on all four ACT subjects to be considered college-ready. Only 26 high schools in the entire state had 50 percent or more of their graduates with the four "college-ready" scores.
Selective enrollment schools had much higher average scores than many of their open enrollment counterparts. Chicago Public Schools' Northside College Prep had the highest average in the state at 29.6.
The highest-scoring open enrollment school was New Trier High School's Winnetka campus with a 27.5 average.