High school students who would be the first in their families to go to college scored much lower on the ACT and are not as academically prepared for postsecondary education as peers with college-educated parents, a study released last week found.
Just over half (52 percent) of ACT test-takers who would be first-generation college students failed to meet any of the ACT College Readiness Benchmarks, compared with 31 percent of all ACT test-takers. Nine percent of first-generation students met all four benchmarks, compared with 26 percent overall, according to the study by ACT, the Iowa City, Iowa-based testing organization, and the Council for Opportunity in Education, in Washington.
Students who hit benchmark scores in English, reading, math, and science have a 75 percent chance of getting a C or higher in first-year college courses in those subjects.
