The 2015 ACT scores are out, and the results are not encouraging for American students.
“High school graduates continue to make little progress in college and career readiness,” the ACT said in a press release. The portion of Class of 2015 high school students who took the test and met the four ACT College Readiness Benchmarks (English, math, reading and science) was roughly equal to the portion who met none of the benchmarks; approximately three students out of 10.
The share of students that met all four benchmarks has remained relatively unchanged over the past five years, while the portion that met none went up slightly in 2013, but has held steady since then.
Across the nation, the average ACT score this spring was 21 points out of a possible 36. Connecticut and Massachusetts had the highest average score, with 24.4 points. The worst average score is 18.5 points in Hawaii, half a point lower than any other state.
Average scores aside, which states are scoring the highest, given how much they spend on education?
Idaho spends $6,791 per pupil but earned an average score of 22.7 points, meaning the state earns an additional 3.3 points on the average ACT test for every $1,000 it spends per student. In Idaho, 37 percent of students met all four of the ACT’s College Readiness Benchmarks, compared to 28 percent nationwide.
Utah is the only other state to earn more than 3 additional points for every $1,000 spent on a student, and it is the only state to spend less per student than Idaho.
At the other end of the spectrum is Alaska, where the state government spends $18,175 per student, more than any other state except New York. All that spending doesn’t seem to help Alaskans very much on the ACT: The average score is 21.1, just 0.1 points above the national average. For every $1,000 Alaska spends, it gains only 1.2 points on its average ACT score, almost one-third Idaho’s average. Even with all the money it spends on education, Alaska doesn’t do any better than the rest of the country at meeting the four ACT College Readiness Benchmarks.
Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Vermont, Wyoming and the District of Columbia also earn less than 1.5 points for every $1,000 spent on a student.
Nationwide, the average per pupil government spending is $10,700. On average, state governments earn 2 points on the ACT for every $1,000 spent per pupil.
