Island students’ Scores on the ACT college entrance exam for Hawaii went up slightly from last year while the national average dropped, according to results released today.
scores for college
entry improve
Hawaii results rise for
the ACT entrance exam as
the national average declinesBy Crystal Kua
ckua@starbulletin.com
The average composite score for Hawaii college-bound students this year came in at 22 out of a maximum of 36, the second year the scores went up. Last year's score was 21.7.
> The national score of 20.8 was down slightly from 21 last year after remaining steady for five years.
But while Hawaii test scores increased, the number of students who took the test decreased. The number of test-takers went to 2,511 from 2,722 last year.
"It's a mixed blessing," said Selvin Chin-Chance, state Department of Education testing development specialist. "It's not as nice as it should be, but it's still very good news because we are bucking the national trend."
Chin-Chance credits the increase in scores to better preparation in the schools.
"The (ACT) is more curriculum-oriented than the SAT. I think they've been putting a better effort in preparing the kids for this one because it depends on the courses you take more so than the College Board (SAT)," he said.
Chin-Chance said he would have liked to have seen the number of Hawaii test-takers go up along with the scores, but the results were good nonetheless.
ACT officials agreed.
"I don't see that as anything that would diminish what your scores look like," said Ed Colby, spokesman for the Iowa City, Iowa-based ACT.
Nationwide, however, the number of test-takers went up by 46,000 to 1.11 million. The increase was due to Colorado and Illinois requiring juniors to take the ACT as part of their statewide testing programs.
As a result, ACT officials said, an additional 30,000 students who took the test were not intending to go to college and were not taking coursework to prepare them for college. Therefore the national score declined.
The figures are based on testing of public and private high school students of the graduating class of 2002 who took the assessment in their sophomore, junior and senior years. The ACT assessment is made up of four separate tests in English, reading, mathematics and science reasoning. Hawaii outpaced the nation in all four components.
Also, whether the ACT, formerly known as the American College Testing Program, could see a further increase in the number of students taking the test as a result of changes to the other college admissions test -- the SAT -- remains to be seen, officials said.
The New York-based College Board announced earlier this year that a revamped SAT will be coming in 2005 with a new writing segment, more advanced math and no analogy section.
"We always try and get more students to take the ACT because we think it's beneficial to them," the ACT's Colby said. "Do we expect the numbers to jump up? Well, I don't know, we don't know what's going to happen to be honest with you. We've been growing, though, each year for the past 20 years so I think basically we expect to continue to grow."
He said that ACT also hopes to get more students to take the test in states like Hawaii where fewer students take the ACT. About 18 percent of Hawaii college-bound students take the ACT.
Chin-Chance said that he thinks there will be an increase in the number of students taking the ACT.
"For one thing, more and more colleges I think are willing to accept scores from both tests; it's not monopolized anymore by the SAT camp," Chin-Chance said. "Plus, I think counselors are learning more and more about the option for the ACT, and I think they introduce the kids to that."
