ACT released its 2016 Condition of College and Career Readiness Report for the Class of 2016. South Carolina’s 2016 high school graduates earned an overall composite score of 18.5 compared to an average of 19.8 in the twenty states that require the test.

South Carolina’s 2016 graduates were the first to reflect the 100% participation requirement in college and career readiness testing. This requirement, enacted through legislation and signed into law by Governor Haley on May 30, 2014, directed that beginning in the 2015-16 school year, all high school juniors take the ACT and WorkKeys to better identify college and career preparedness.

All twenty states that made the switch from a student-selected test to a state-required one, noticed a similar decrease in scores in their first 100 percent testing cohort report. While South Carolina scores for meeting all four benchmarks dropped nine percent from last year when it was a self-selected senior cohort, there was an overall increase of 1,369 students identified as "college ready" by ACT’s metrics of meeting all four benchmarks. ACT’s benchmarks are rigorous targets that set a new high bar for South Carolina students and one that presents our schools with significant opportunities to help students improve. For example, eleven percent (5,620) of students scored within two points of meeting the benchmarks in English and Reading and thirteen percent (6,642 students) scored within two points of meeting the Science benchmark.

"While we know we have a ways to go to meet our vision that every South Carolina graduate is prepared for college and careers upon graduation, the ACT scores released today set a benchmark that we can build upon as we develop and implement an accountability system that incorporates multiple measures of college and career readiness," said State Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman.

The South Carolina Department of Education is currently in the process of designing an accountability model based upon the Profile of the South Carolina graduate, that incorporates a variety of college and career ready indicators that will better inform students, parents, and educators on the overall performance of schools. This new accountability system will not use one stand-alone measure but rather multiple measures, to include The ACT, WorkKeys, Accuplacer (two year college entrance test), ASVAB (military aptitude test) and SAT to measure levels of student preparation for higher education and viable career options. Additional indicators such as the completion of career and technology courses in a recognized career cluster along with industry certifications earned while in high school will also be reflected in the new model.

As a state, we must continue to help students find their passion and then show them the pathway for success after high school. This does not happen overnight. Rather, we must use indicators such as today’s ACT report to uncover growth opportunities and use them as building blocks to meet the ultimate goal that every student will graduate from South Carolina high schools prepared for success.

ACT Report District Data

ACT Report School Data