While only 39 percent of all students who took the ACT college admissions test in 2013 scored well enough to be deemed college-ready by the testing company, the number was dramatically lower for minority students, with only 11 percent of African-American and 18 percent of Hispanic students meeting the bar. Forty-nine percent of white students and 57 percent of Asian students made the mark.
“Education in America is not a level playing ground, and the ACT scores are a stark reminder that race and class hobble achievement, which snuffs out hope, and dogs democracy,” said Lee Baker, associate vice provost for undergraduate education at Duke University. “The fact that public education systems are funded by local tax dollars and in affluent neighborhoods schools are subvented by private gifts, exacerbates the dynamic. And, only the wealthy can afford private schools and only the lucky can get into high-performing charter schools.”
The class of 2013 represented the most diverse group of ACT test-takers, but the results were alarming to the testing company. “While we have a more diverse group … the gap between ethnic groups is way too large,” said Jon Erickson, ACT president.
The ACT determines performance in four benchmark subjects: English, reading, math and science. According to 2014 data ACT provided to HuffPost, the subject with the largest racial achievement gap was English, where 76 percent of white students and 34 percent of black students met the benchmark.