ACT scores dip slightly
The average score for Evansville students who took the ACT last year dipped again slightly. The average score was 22.3.
Stats for all districts now are available on the state Department of Public Instruction’s site.
Fewer students—87—took the test compared to 91 in the previous year. While that number dropped, the percent of students taking the test increased from 63.2 percent to 66.4 percent.
This is the fifth year in a row that Evansville’s scores have decreased from a score of 23.1 in 2005-06. From 1999-00 to 2004-05, scores had been increasing from 20.4 to 21.6.
Here’s a story about Janesville’s scores.
Nov 17, 2010 at 9:47 a.m.
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ACT and PSAT scores should not be used to assess high school achievement...especially when a larger % of your students take the test each year. Many students are pushed/nudged toward 4 year institutions so they feel that they must take these exams. They do not measure high school achievement; they are measures/predictors of success in colleges and universities. High school grades are NOT adequate predictors of success in college.
More students should be counseled to enroll in technical colleges if they have not demonstrated an interest in or a capability which would make a 4 year institution a good fit. The jobs that are most available in the present economy are accessible upon completion of 2 year programs.....many of which are available at Blackhawk in Janesville.Too many of our students head off to 4 year institutions and find themselves back home after one or two years as they haven't prospered academically.
Then what? Start over or get into the workforce? The job market is as depressed as the economy and the cost of much of the negative experience must be chalked up as a "learning experience"; an expensive and painful one at that.
Parents and guidance counselors: consider technical college. If you look around your communities you'll see that the trades people are working and the GM employees are headed for Blackhawk for retraining. It may save you all a bundle of money and save your student(s) from the anguish which is the result of returning home feeling the consequences of a negative experience.
In addition, if your student does succeed at Blackhawk, the credits will very likely transfer to the UW System.Bingo! Win win.
A little study and a heart to heart talk with your students and their guidance counselors may be a worthwhile pursuit.
Sep 1, 2010 at 2:58 a.m.
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I can't help but think 'No Child Left Behind' is at least partly to blame. I remember the 'Regents Exam' in N.Y. Teachers in high school routinely said, "ok, this is what you have to know for the Regents Exam--but, in reality, we now know the answer is actually this..." In other words, it was teach to the test, not for knowledge. It was a failure. NCLB seems very similar.
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