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ACT Scores Drop at MPS

Maybe if we just spent a little more...

After expanding ACT testing to all high school juniors last year, Milwaukee Public Schools posted its lowest score in five years on the dominant college admissions test, according to data released Thursday.

The district’s average composite score on the ACT fell to 15.8 this year, from 17.2 in 2009. Testing was expanded to 3,846 students in 2010; only 2,332 students took the test in 2009.

Statewide, the average composite ACT score for the Class of 2010 dropped to 22.1 this year, from 22.3 last year. When those scores came out last week, the state Department of Public Instruction partly attributed Wisconsin’s growth in minority participation in ACT testing to MPS’ universal testing program.

At the same time, it also documented a marked drop in average scores by minority students in the state.

 

Posted by Owen at 1934 hrs
Politics + Politics - Wisconsin

1. Why do all juniors need to take the ACT? Do they have to pay for it, too?

   I’m troubled more by the gradual decline in scores over the previous years. This year’s drop can be at least partly explained by the extra 1500 kids who took it. But what can we do for the kids who want to go to college in MPS but aren’t getting good enough scores to get into UW?

   And why are the English scores in the whole state so much lower than the rest? Is the exam written in Bostonese or some other some-such?

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on August 26, 2010 at 2144 hrs
   
   
   

2. Back when I took the ACT I can remember discussing with a friend what the average score would be if suddenly everyone in the country was ordered to take it.  I think we settled on 14 or 15.  That was supposed to account for all ages and occupations though - including all the country’s rocket scientists and authors as well as the folks who can’t remember what a square root is.  If the average for MPS was 15.8 then we may have underestimated a bit.

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on August 26, 2010 at 2238 hrs
   
   
   

3. “After expanding ACT testing to all high school juniors last year…”

   Key word is “All”

   Having all students of all abilities take the ACT test will negatively affect scores as opposed to encouraging the best an brightest to take the ACT test.  More milk is being added to the cream.

   “Why do all juniors need to take the ACT?”

   The national drive to have more and more students take the ACT is based on predictions from lots and lots and lots of people that some sort of post-secondary education will be needed to gain and retain a middle class or better job in the future in the USA.

   Is it worth it?
   Are we competing on an international playing field?
   If yes, is the competition significant?
   If yes, should tax dollars be used to assist people to go to college?  Is this a worthwhile investment in the country’s economic future?
   Any GI education loan recipients or other public assistance recipients with comments? (A good chunk of a state college tuition is subsidized)

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on August 26, 2010 at 2321 hrs
   
   
   

4. The ACT is a nationally normed test.  Thus, it provides one way to compare our students nationally.

   Wisconsin has always been one of the leading scorers on the ACT, usually first or tied for first. And we have been justly proud of this fact.  But a valid criticism has always been that only college-bound students take the test, so it is not a true indicator of overall student success.

   Wendy, it’s a good question about who is paying for the test, though my assumption would be that MPS pays. But the district will be criticized either way.  And it doesn’t hurt for non-college bound students who see how they fare on the test.  Who knows, but some students who thought they weren’t college material might take a new look if they score well on the test. 

   So now the largest district in the state has decided to test all juniors.  This is a good thing.  When you add non-college bound students, the average score will initially drop.  Some change in scores is likely to happen any time you change significant parameters of a test.  But now we have a new baseline.  What will matter is what happens from now on. 

   MPS has been failing for a long time.  But right now there seems to be an unprecented determination at the school district, city and the state levels to improve the district. 

   It’s so easy to criticize.  So difficult to be the one responsible for the job. 

   It doesn’t help to trash new strategies before they have even begun.  Yes, there is a bad track record. Yes, there are some major barriers that right now seem intractable.  But that doesn’t mean that the district can’t turn it around and it doesn’t mean its efforts shouldn’t be supported.

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on August 27, 2010 at 0719 hrs
   
   
   

5. 15….. 15….. are you kidding me? What are they doing in those schools? A 15! Jesus…. That district costs over a billion dollars a year to operate, among the highest per student expenditures in the country…

   15? An eight grader sure, but 11th graders?

   Wow, just, wow.

   Further evidence that MPS needs to be burned to the ground.

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on August 27, 2010 at 0911 hrs
   
   
   

6. Viagra.  Once the taxpayers start buying them Viagra again, it will get better.  Really, it will.

   :zzdeadhorse:

   Posted by hsgbdmama on August 27, 2010 at 1128 hrs
   
   
   

7. I know when I privately tutored for the ACT in 2007-2008 that MPS got federal money based on the numbers that take the test. 

   Still not everyone took the test.  (They could barely show up after school, and we had to bring pencils and provide them an afterschool snack.)  The private tutoring company did not return to that school, after many negative comments for teachers and other staff that our group was “too white”.  I also was constantly told that my plans were way above the student level.  I also noticed one kid who (IMO) suffered, undiagnosed, with a mild dyslexia - he could tell me the right answer but always circled the wrong choice ABCDE.

   MPS IMO largely is filled with teachers who are put in place by the system to not challenge the students about anything.  The students do not believe anyone cares whether they live or die.  The parents appear filled in their own interests, and I witnessed students who took it on themselves to care for siblings over their own classwork.  I do not advocate just an overhaul of MPS, but an overhaul of the entire system.

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on August 27, 2010 at 1849 hrs
   
   
   

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