Based on ACT test results from last spring, eight out of 10 public high school juniors in Illinois weren’t considered ready for college classes in all subjects.
Carl Krause, college and career center counselor, is not surprised by these findings.
“The fact that these results were conducted from the entire state doesn’t surprise me. I think we in the northwest suburbs are a little more spoiled by the availability we have for good schools and housing, and we don’t have some of the problems that the lower income areas have,” Krause said. “A lot of the schools in the south have very little money to spend on programs and help for the students, so the findings are really not that big of a surprise. It’s sad, but it’s not a big surprise,”
At surrounding schools, such as Lake Forest, Deerfield, Northbrook, and Hinsdale high schools, more than 40 percent of students didn’t meet all four “college readiness benchmarks” on the ACT.
Even with these findings, ACT still stands by its readiness scores: at least 18 in English, 21 in reading, 22 in math, and 24 in science. The benchmarks are an accurate representation of how students are going to perform in their college classes, Krause said.
“The students that do hit the benchmarks are the ones that continue on and graduate [college],” Krause said. “I don’t know what those numbers are, everyone talks about how many kids we sent to colleges, but no one really talks about how many finish, which is a big difference.”
Krause feels most students at LZHS are ready for college, however, student who didn’t meet the benchmarks and aren’t ready for college have plenty of options.
“There are options; you don’t have to go to a four year school right away. I think that is something that our district, our school, and students and parents think that’s the only way you can get a job and be successful if you go away right away, and that is not the case at all,” Krause said. “A junior college is a great option for someone who is below those standards, because they can see how they do on those college level classes without spending tens of thousands of dollars on tuition and room and board at a four year university.”
One thing LZHS does to prepare students for the ACT test is the PLAN test which students are required to take their sophomore year.
“We come into their classrooms and talk to them about it and what their weak points are and strong points are. The test actually shows you what parts you need to improve on to get better,” Krause said.
Sophomores should evaluate their PLAN test and seek help accordingly, Krause said.
“Seek help with those things, be it through your teachers, through a resource room, private tutor, and parents, whatever it is. If you have a weakness, get better at it because that’s only going to help you out in the long run. That being said, there are ACT optional colleges; there are test optional schools. There are 400 colleges out there that don’t require a test score for admission. They will look at everything else; if you want to send one, send one, if you don’t want to send one you don’t have to. So, that tells us that [some] colleges are thinking about it as a one day test.”