HILO — Hawaii’s students are making strides in their ACT college exam scores, though their performance as a whole still trails some of their counterparts nationally, according to test score data for the class of 2017 released this week.
HILO — Hawaii’s students are making strides in their ACT college exam scores, though their performance as a whole still trails some of their counterparts nationally, according to test score data for the class of 2017 released this week.
Public school graduates statewide had an overall average composite score of 18 on the ACT exam (scored on a 36-point scale) in the 2016-17 school year, up from 17.8 in 2015-16, 17.5 in 2014-15 and 17.3 in the 2013-14 school year. Nationally, the average score was 21 among public school students in the 2016-17 school year, which has remained roughly the same each year over the same time period.
The state Department of Education has required Hawaii public school 11th-graders to take the ACT since 2013. About 90 percent of Hawaii’s 2017 graduates — public and private school students — took the exam compared to 60 percent nationally, according to the data provided. Often, a higher percentage of students taking the test results in the overall average score to be lower.
Starting this school year, the DOE no longer is requiring all juniors to take the ACT, but those results won’t be reflected until 2019.
Of states in which at least 90 percent of public and private students took the ACT, the average score was 19.81 for the class of 2017. Hawaii’s average score of public and private students was 19.
DOE Superintendent Christina Kishimoto said in a statement that the new ACT results provide “valuable insight” and highlight future areas to focus on to help students better “compete with their peers on a national level.”
Statewide, of 10,051 public school students tested, 40 percent met the benchmark in English, the same as the year prior though lower than the 61 percent average nationally. For math, 21 percent of Hawaii public students met the benchmark, down from 24 percent in the 2015-16 school year and lower than the 41 percent national average. For science, 20 percent of Hawaii students tested met the benchmark, up from 18 percent the year prior and compared to 37 percent nationally.
Overall, 11 percent of Hawaii students who took the ACT met benchmarks in all four subjects (including reading), up from 10 percent in the 2015-16 school year though lower than the 27 percent national average.
Meeting the benchmark is defined as the minimum score needed on an ACT subject-area test to indicate a 50 percent chance of obtaining a B or higher or about a 75 percent chance of obtaining a C or higher in the corresponding credit-bearing college course, according to a Wednesday DOE news release.
ACT data released this week did not include school-level or complex-level data.
Email Kirsten Johnson at kjohnson@hawaiitribune-herald.com.