ACT scores in 2015 were flat -- with a continuation of recent patterns of significant gaps in the average scores by race and ethnicity.
The composite score was 21.0, the same as last year, with gains of 0.1 point in all of the sections except mathematics, which saw a 0.1 point decline. (The highest possible score on any part and the composite is 36.0)
As ACT has done for many years now, it released data showing that high school students who take a rigorous college preparatory curriculum not only score better on the ACT, but meet overall college readiness "benchmarks" to succeed in college. The ACT lists separate benchmarks for the four subject areas on the test, and only in English do a majority (in that case nearly two-thirds) of students meet the benchmarks. Only 28 percent of those finishing high school meet the benchmarks in all four subject areas.
As has been the case in past years, the ACT data show significant gaps by race and ethnicity, with the average score for Asians growing by more than the scores of any other group.
Read more at Inside Higher Ed: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/08/26/act-scores-year-are-flat-and-racial-gaps-persist