By Capital News Service
Nearly three quarters of Michigan high school students are considered to be unprepared for college, according to data from the Michigan League for Public Policy.
Students who are told they are unprepared for college are less likely to attend university or any postsecondary training after graduating from high school, leading to lower income throughout their life, education experts say.
The metric that measures college readiness is benchmarks on standardized tests like the ACT and SAT.
For example, on the SAT students are considered “college and career ready” if they reach a 480 and above score in reading and writing and a 530 and above in math. The maximum score on each is 800 and a perfect overall score is 1600.
On the ACT a student must reach a benchmark score in various areas to indicate “college readiness” for each subject.
Scores are declining among K-12 students across the board, including key indicator areas like third grade reading and eighth grade math, said Alexandra Stamm, an education policy analyst at the league, a nonpartisan research and advocacy organization.
“There’s a variety of reasons that people are pointing to, not only for what is causing these declines but also how we can fix it,” she said.
Educators cite the COVID pandemic’s continuing legacy of adverse effects on scores across all grades because of the disruption and challenges of online learning, Stamm said.
