Dumbing down the ACT
By PJ Martin
Editor
The Herald-News
While driving to work last Monday morning I heard an announcer saying that the ACT (American College Testing) had been trimmed down. What? I wondered what was meant by trimmed down, so I started searching online to see exactly what ACT did.
For those unfamiliar with the ACT, it is a standardized test used for college admissions. It shows the ability of a student in math, writing, reading, and science on a scale of 1-36.
Since the SAT is now offered online, the ACT was also offered online (at testing sites), and then the newer version was acknowledged very quietly. The new version is to be released for national testing in April 2025 and for school-day use in 2026.
According to ACT CEO Janet Godwin in a statement posted on ACT.org, “…we have made the test more flexible for students by giving them the ability to choose whether to take the science section. English, reading, and math remain as the core sections of the ACT that will result in a college-reportable score…students can choose to take the ACT, the ACT plus science, the ACT plus writing, or the ACT plus science and writing.”
She went on to write that the test had been shortened by about one-third. The ‘evolved’ version of the core test will now take only 2 hours (currently 3 hours), but that depends on which version of the test is taken.
In order to shorten the time required, the test will include shorter passages in the English and Reading sections and fewer questions in each portion with a total of 44 fewer questions in the overall test.
These changes come after ACT reported major declines last fall in college readiness. The ACT site reported that over 4 in 10 seniors reached none of the required goals for college readiness. They also noted that 70% fell short of the requirements for math.
If our kids are falling short in math and almost half our seniors fell short of goals why on earth would you be simplifying the ACT? How about adjusting the teaching methods to help catch our kids up on math and the other subjects that need improvement? That would seem to me, the logical thing to do.
It is no surprise that the United States ranks 13th in the world in overall education and Kentucky ranks 39th out of the 50 states. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the US average score for math fell by 13 percentage points between 2018 and 2022; however, science was unchanged.
I suppose the ACT folks can blame covid for making all these students fall behind. That’s the excuse we usually hear from organizations when their methods are questioned.
I feel like all students should be taking the full test, not choosing to omit science, writing, or both. There are basic college requirements for science and writing. It sounds as if the CEO of ACT is saying, that if a student is better at writing than science, they should take the ACT plus writing (omits science) so they will score better. The same with students who are better at science and not writing, just take the ACT plus science and boost your score.
It appears to me that the ACT organization is trying to make itself look better by pumping out kids with better scores. Never mind that the students are drastically behind in math and everything that prepares them for college.
