Troubling News about Incoming College Freshman

The Chicago Sun-Times’ front page story this morning is troubling to those of us who will be welcoming a new class of college freshman into our lecture halls in the next couple of weeks.

Three-quarters of them are not ready for university studies!

More than three-quarters of Illinois high school graduates aren’t completely ready for college, based on their ACT scores, state results of the college-admission test released Wednesday show.

Only 23 percent of Illinois’ 2011 high school graduating class — public and private — met college readiness standards in all four ACT subjects tested: English, reading, math and science.

There is a clear ethnic disparity here as the chart reveals. Although no group is extraordinary, in comparison there are significant disparities–especially among African Americans and Hispanics. I teach in an urban setting where the student population is quite ethnically diverse  with a large number of African American and Hispanic students. Among these ethnic groups only 4% and 9% respectively are prepared for college.