More Hawaii students are taking the ACT, but fewer than half are scoring high enough to be ready for college.

First some praise. Teachers are doing a much better job of getting students to take the test, which universities use in part to determine admission. 

The fact that a record 5,345 students in both public and private schools took the ACT last spring — a 75 percent increase from the Class of 2010 — is outstanding. 

But only a third of students are scoring at least a 19 (the test is out of 36), which is the benchmark indicating readiness for entry-level courses in the University of Hawaii System, which includes community colleges.

Hawaii students are below the national average in all four ACT test areas: English, math, reading and science. 

Here’s a chart the Hawaii Department of Education sent out today (CCR stands for College Career Readiness):

Still, Hawaii graduates who tested as juniors last spring are not far behind the national average. They scored an average of 20.1, compared to the national average of 20.9.

“The drop in ACT scores for Hawaiistudents should not be interpreted as a decline in student learning or readiness,” said Jon Erickson, ACT president of education, said in the DOE release. “The state results were impacted by the change in the composition of test takers included in the report. As a result, this year’s data should be viewed as a new baseline against which future years can be compared.”

DOE Deputy Superintendent Ronn Nozoe expects scores to rise with the implementation of new initiatives this year.

“The good news is the high number of students challenging themselves with the college rigor of the ACT Test,” Nozoe said in the release. “We look forward to improving our results as we continue our focus on college and career readiness.”

Learn more here. 

— Nathan Eagle

Students prepare to take the ACT test. (TestPrepLaura via Flickr)