Re: “Many Going to College Are Not Ready, Report Says” (New York Times column, August 17, 2005)

The ACT, created in 1959 by E.E. Lindquist and Ted McCarrel was initially designed to compete with the SAT exam. According to the ACT webpage, the ACT Assessment tests are curriculum based and are not an aptitude or an IQ test. Instead, the questions on the test are related to what is learned in high school courses in mathematics, English and science.

Regardless of what the ACT “assesses,” the bottom line is that you cannot attend an accredited college unless you pay to take the ACT and then pay to have the scores sent to each college which you plan on attending, not including of course college application fees, postage, etc. You cannot mail the scores yourself as they are not “official.” Multiply this by hundreds of thousands of potential college students and you have yourself a rather handsome profit. Does the agenda of the ACT then really concern measuring college readiness?

Studies suggest otherwise, as the ACT does not predict college achievement. Certainly then it is problematic that we place such an enormous emphasis upon standardized test scores like those derived from the ACT, as the ACT exhibits low levels of predictive validity.

Thus, blanket generalizations that purport “many” high school graduates as not ready for college are questionable at best. Instead, and as one might expect, high school grades are often, but not always, the single best predictor of first-year performance. Perhaps then the ACT is just a payola “necessity” of the college application process.

I took the ACT twice, initially scoring a 17 and 19 respectively. Both scores are below the national average. Accordingly, I was and am not prepared or ready for college. However, not only did I graduate college, I received my BA degree summa cum laude. I also hold a MA degree and currently am entering my second year as a fully funded doctoral student. Am I the only exception to the ACT “college-readiness benchmark?” I think not.