I taught ACT classes to high school students for over a decade. To keep abreast of changes in the test, I took more than a dozen myself. So, I know the ACT better than most. I’ve also published several analyses of ACT results—here, here, and here—all of which convinced me of two facts: The test is a fair, unbiased measure of what students have—or should have—learned in high school, and that not all groups of students are doing poorly. The most recent 2023 results are no exception.

The ACT has four multiple-choice subject sections: English, math, reading, and science. The number of correct answers on each section is converted to a scaled score from 1–36 and averaged into a student’s composite score. Thirty-six is a perfect score.

In 2005, the ACT established four, empirically-based “College Readiness Benchmark Scores” which were updated in 2013 to 18 for English, 22 for math and reading, and 23 for science. These are the minimum scores that predict a 50 percent chance of earning B, or a 75 percent chance of earning C in a corresponding credit-bearing college course.

To understand trends in the ACT, you have to look beyond year-to-year fluctuations—the ACT suggests 5-to-10-year intervals. So, although I’ve done finer grained analyses elsewhere, here I’ve compared the most recent—2023—scores to those from one and two decades prior—2013 and 2003.

In 2023, approximately 1.4 million students took the ACT, intermediate between the two earlier cohorts—1.2m and 1.8m, respectively. In 2003 and 2013, the average composite scores were virtually identical—20.8 and 20.9— and the subject scores differed by less than 0.3 points. However, in 2023, the average composite score was just 19.5, and subject test scores dropped by as much as nine percent. In addition, there was a 21 percent decline—from the 2003/2013 highs—in the number of students meeting any of the College Readiness Benchmarks. Although the latest declines caused a lot of handwringing, and wrongheaded claims about testing biases, there is a more nuanced—and more positive—story in the data.

First, it’s clear that a key reason for the 2023 decline is that students took much less rigorous course loads than in previous decades. In 2023, only 41 percent of students had taken what the ACT calls “Core or More,” four or more years of English and three or more years each of math, social studies, and natural science. In 2003 and 2013, 57 percent and 74 percent did so. The effects of this change are clear: Over all three cohorts, students who took Core or More scored an average of 11-19 percent higher on subject tests, and 14 percent higher overall than did students who took a less rigorous mix of courses. Note that these differences exceed the composite score decline over the same decades.

More importantly, however, Core or More was most beneficial for students who, historically, have fared poorly on standardized tests. For instance, in 2023, the percentage of students self-identifying as Black/African American, American Indian/Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander who met at least three of the ACT’s College Readiness Benchmark scores was 100-150 percent higher for those who took Core or More than for those who did not. Similarly, 32-72 percent more students in the ACT’s other racial/ethnic categories met at least three of the four College Readiness Benchmarks if they took Core or More. In other words, rigorous coursework dramatically increases test performance for all groups of students, irrespective of race or ethnicity.

If one considers only overall average composite scores—as most do—the ranking of the ACT’s ethnic/racial categories has remained unchanged for decades. For instance, in the three cohorts considered here, students identifying as Asian—or Asian-American/Pacific Islander in 2003—White, and Two or More Races—in 2013 and 2023—scored as much as 24 percent higher than their cohort’s overall average. In contrast, those identifying as Hispanic/Latino, Native Hawaiian/other Pacific Islander, American Indian/Alaska Native, and Black/African-American scored as much as 18 percent below the average. These aggregated data are what’s used—erroneously—to claim that the ACT is racially biased.

However, as I have argued elsewhere, grouping scores by these arbitrary and anachronistic racial/ethnic categories not only perpetuates misleading stereotypes, it hides the key predictor of ACT performance: “Student Post Secondary Aspirations.” The ACT reports student aspirations as their self-reported plans to pursue a Graduate, Professional Level, Bachelor’s, Two-Year College, or Vocational-Technical degree after high school.

In 2003, the ACT reported only overall composite scores in terms of aspirations. Nonetheless, the data were amazing. Scores were 34 percent higher for students aspiring to a Graduate Degree versus those intending to pursue Voc-Tech, and the intermediate scores declined progressively between the two extremes. The same pattern repeated in 2013 and 2023. More importantly, however, the composite scores of students in the top aspirational categories—Grad. Study, Prof. Level Deg., Bachelor’s Deg.—actually increased each decade by as much as eight percent.

In 2006, the ACT began reporting scores in terms of both aspirations and ethnic/racial categories. Again, the results were remarkable. In 2013 and 2023, students in the four historically lowest performing groups—Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic, American Indian/Alaska Native, Black/African American—who aspired to a Graduate or Professional degree actually outscored students in the historically highest performing groups—Asian, White, Two or More Races—who aspired to a Two-Year College or Voc-Tech degree by as much as 42 percent. In other words, aspirations were a far better predictor of student performance than were the ACT’s outmoded racial/ethnic categories.

So, despite declines in overall average performance from 2003 to 2023, students who took more rigorous coursework and had higher postgraduate aspirations not only improved, but they also outperformed other students—irrespective of their race or ethnicity. In fact, in 2023, students who planned to pursue Graduate or Professional degrees outperformed their cohort’s average by as much as 41 percent, again, regardless of race or ethnicity.

So, again in 2023, hard-working, ambitious Black, Hispanic, Pacific Islander, and native American students outscored Asian and White students with more modest aspirations. Why doesn’t anyone notice?

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