ACT: 14% of greater Chattanooga area seniors 'college ready'; but educators say test doesn't tell whole story

Percent ready for college
Percent ready for college

Signal Mountain Middle/High School has more college-ready students than any other Hamilton County public high school, according to students' scores in English, math, reading and science on the ACT, the nation's most popular college entrance exam.

Signal Mountain's seniors are about three times more likely to do well in first-year college courses than the average Hamilton County or Tennessee student.

That's according to a measure called the ACT College Readiness Benchmarks, which predicts student success based on ACT scores - students who earn high-enough scores have a 50 percent chance of getting a B or higher and a 75 percent chance of at least a C in corresponding first-year college courses.

SCHOOL RATINGS

Percentages of students who met the ACT College Readiness Benchmarks in 2013-2014: U.S. high school students overall: 26 percent Tennessee high school students overall: 16 percent Hamilton County high school seniors overall: 14 percent Brainerd High School: 0 percent Central High School: 7 percent Center for Creative Arts: 36 percent Chattanooga School for Arts and Sciences: 27 percent East Hamilton County High School: 22 percent East Ridge High School: 6 percent Hamilton County Collegiate High at Chattanooga State Community College: 33 percent Hixson High School: 11 percent Ivy Academy Charter School: 3 percent Lookout Valley Middle/High School: 11 percent Ooltewah High School: 15 percent Red Bank High School: 6 percent Sale Creek Middle/High School: 10 percent Sequoyah High School: 2 percent Signal Mountain Middle/High School: 41 percent Soddy-Daisy High School: 19 percent The Howard School: 0 percent Tyner Academy: 1 percent Source: Tennessee Department of Education

So it might come as a surprise to learn that only 41 percent of Signal Mountain's students are college-ready, according to their 2013-2014 ACT scores.

Still, that's higher than the 26 percent of U.S. students who are college-ready, according to the ACT benchmarks, and far better than the 16 percent across Tennessee and 14 percent in Hamilton County.

But even though the ACT benchmark number for the county is low, between 60 and 65 percent of Hamilton County seniors go to a two- or four-year college, slightly above the national average. And 55 percent of Hamilton County public school grads who went to college in 2007 graduated from college within six years.

So students here are attending college and graduating - even if their ACT scores suggest they're not ready.

Local education experts say that while ACT scores may indicate how well students will do in college, they don't tell the whole story.

RECIPE FOR SUCCESS

ACT benchmark scores English: 18 Mathematics: 22 Reading: 22 Science: 23 The benchmarks are scores that represent the level of achievement required for students to have a 50 percent chance of obtaining a B or higher or about a 75 percent chance of obtaining a C or higher in corresponding credit-bearing first-year college courses. ACT scores range from a low of 1 to a high of 36. Source: ACT Inc.

"Just because a student isn't college-ready by ACT standards it just means they have to work harder when they get there," said Stacy Lightfoot, vice president for college and career success at the Public Education Foundation. PEF is a Chattanooga nonprofit organization that closely tracks the graduation rates of Hamilton County public school students in partnership with the school district.

"You can go," Lightfoot said. "You just have to put in the work."

MEETING THE MARKS

37 percent of U.S. students met the ACT science benchmark 43 percent of U.S. students met the ACT math benchmark 44 percent of U.S. students met the ACT reading benchmark 64 percent of U.S. students met the English benchmark 1.8 million U.S. students, or 57 percent of the 2014 class, took the ACT Source: ACT Inc.

Research has shown that a high school student's grade point average is the best predictor of college success, PEF President Dan Challener said.

"It's way better than the ACT," Challener said, because GPA shows which "students work hard and have grit."

Finding a college that's the right "fit" for students also is critically important, Lightfoot and Challener said. PEF pioneered a program that brought college advisers to Hamilton County. Every high school now has a part-time college adviser who's paid by the school district.

Two predominantly black high schools in Chattanooga - Howard and Brainerd - didn't have any college-ready students according to their ACT scores. That prompted Tennessee State University researcher Ken Chilton to say it looked like "educational apartheid" during a series of talks in January in honor of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

But two Chattanooga high schools that are about 60 percent white - Red Bank and Central - had only 6 percent and 7 percent of students, respectively, deemed college-ready, according to the ACT benchmarks.

One thing that drives down ACT scores in Tennessee, educators here say, is the fact that it's one of about 10 states that requires all students to take the ACT. States in which every student takes the test have lower average scores than states where most ACT test-takers are college-bound.

ACT scores have improved in Hamilton County over the past five years, according to figures provided by the district. The composite, or overall, ACT score for the Hamilton County Department of Education has climbed from 18.6 in 2010 to 19 in 2014.

"We're pleased with the progress we're making in the overall scores," said Robert Sharpe, HCDE assistant director of education and leadership. Raising a score by two-tenths of a point is considered significant improvement, he said.

ACT recommends that schools improve their scores by requiring students to take four years of English and three years of math, science and social studies. Hamilton County requires its students to take four years of English, math and science, Sharpe said.

"I think we're the only district in the state that requires that [four years of science]," he said.

Contact staff writer Tim Omarzu at tomarzu@timesfreepress.com or www.facebook.com/tim.omarzu or twitter.com/TimOmarzu or 423-757-6651.

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