American College Testing

IF you're a feminist, you can narrow the "gender gap" simply by  forcing the ACT to change the way they score the test

http://www.act.org/newsroom/data/2010/profilereports.html

	See how this compares to the distribution curves of other tests.
	The large variation from state to state in ACT scores by race and sex.
	Annual earning potential increases $6,667 per ACT point, $600 per NAEP Math point, $187 per SAT Math point, and $146 per GRE Quantitative point.
	In 1990 all of the standardized tests were re-centered so that ACT scores caused the following "improvements": The male natural science score dropped 1.3 points, the female score increased a total of .5 points. The male social studies score increased 3 points, the female score increased 5 points. The male composite score increased 1.7 points, the female score increased 2.7 points. The male English score increased 2 points, the female score increased 1.7 points. The male math score increased 2.6 points, the female score increased 3.6 points.

I'm not sure that's true. In any event, here are the average ACT composite scores which are consistent with GRE scores:

Letters = 28.2
Foreign language = 27.1
Math = 25.6
Engineering = 22.2
Social Sciences = 21.1
Education = 19.8
Business = 19.3

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1hlPxshnRXhbDBjSE11ZGlJdDg/edit  Table 4.1

Some of the highest scoring Blacks in the country are in Iowa, where 7% of 583, or 41, were determined to be college ready by the ACT test. How does that stack up to other races? 12 were American Indians, 91 were Hispanics, 177 were Asians, and 6,190 were Caucasians, meaning that Blacks were 0.6% of the students qualified for college and Caucasians were 95%.

In North Dakota, none of the Blacks were qualified, 12 Hispanics were qualified, 11 Indians were qualified, 20 were Asians, and 1,356 Caucasians were. So zero percent of the college ready were Blacks and 97% were Caucasians.

In New Jersey, ACT showed that 16 Blacks were qualified. But 12 Indians were, 268 were Hispanics, 789 were Asians, and 4,838 were Caucasians. So 0.3% Blacks were qualified, versus 82% of Caucasians.

If the above academic skills are commensurate for Blacks across the country (which we know that they are), then Blacks should constitute less than 0.3% of college admissions.  Are there any exceptions?  Perhaps:

In the District of Columbia, where the cost of education per student at $25,000 is FIVE TIMES higher than places like Iowa and North Dakota and Japan and Korea, a grand total of 3%, or 26 Blacks, were college ready, compared to 236 Caucasians, 19 Asians, 21 Hispanics, and one Indian there. Even though Blacks are 9% of those college ready and Caucasians are 81%, this represents a much lower ratio than in other states because Blacks are 70% of the population and Caucasians are only 10%:

Blacks = 70% of population but only 9% of college ready = odds ratio of 0.13:1

Whites = 10% of population but 81% of college ready = odds ratio of 8.1:1

Thus Whites are 62 times more likely to be college ready than Blacks.

ACT Scores for DC Education Majors

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1hlPxshnRXhbDBjSE11ZGlJdDg/edit?usp=sharing

Well, it seems that this table is now missing, but you can still see it at either of the following:

http://sdrv.ms/137xoZD

http://web.archive.org/web/20110112175432/http://www.act.org/news/data/10/pdf/profile/DistrictofColumbia.pdf?utm_campaign=cccr10&utm_source=averagescores&utm_medium=web

In ACT Math, Blacks in DC score 16.4, which is 0.7 points lower than the national average for blacks of 17.1, 10.2 points lower than Whites in DC (26.6), and 5.6 points lower than Asian/Pacific Islanders in DC.

In ACT English, they score 15.0, which is 0.7 points lower than the national average for Blacks, 13.1 points lower than Whites in DC(28.1), and 10.3 points lower than Asian/Pacific Islanders in DC.

In ACT Reading, they score 16.1, which is again 0.7 points lower than the national average for Blacks, 12 points lower than Whites in DC, and
8.7 points lower than Asian/Pacific Islanders in DC.

In ACT Science, they score 15.9, which is 9.7 points lower than Whites in DC, and 7.1 points lower than the national average for Asian/Pacific Islanders.


Is there ANYBODY who could POSSIBLY score lower than that? Well, of course. Table 4.1 shows that teacher education majors in DC score only 14.9, another .2 points lower.

http://www.act.org/news/data/10/states.html?utm_campaign=cccr10&utm_source=data&utm_medium=web

Average Scores by State

Sort the data by column heading or select a state to view its complete High School Profile Report in PDF. (Each file is about 32 pages long and 90KB.)

In spring 2009, all public high school eleventh graders in the states of Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Tennessee, and Wyoming were tested with the ACT as required by each state. Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Tennessee, and Wyoming students who met ACT's 2010 graduating class criteria are included in the 2010 graduating class average score results. Consistent with ACT's reporting policies, graduating class test results are reported only for students tested under standard time conditions.