Maui County 11th-Grade ACT Scores Increase

Maui High School. Photo by Wendy Osher.

By Maui Now Staff

Hawai‘i Department of Education schools’ 11th grade students saw a substantial increase in College and Career Readiness as measured by recent American College Testing (ACT) scores.scores, rising from 36% in 2014 to 39% in 2015.

Maui County schools were listed in the top four spots with the following increases: Maui High School increases scores by 17%; Moloka‘i, 19%; and Lana‘i, 16%.

Pahoa High & Intermediate School on Hawai‘i topped the list at 23%.

The ACT is one of two paramount readiness examinations for college and university admissions across the US.

The increase in HIDOE’s ACT attainment rate in 2015 is based on results of over 9,600 public school eleventh grade students. Across the state, the four high schools showing the largest increases between 2014 and 2015 results are neighbor island high schools.

“In its second year of statewide testing, the increase in ACT results is seen as a promising step toward college and career readiness for all Hawai‘i public school graduates,” said Stephen Schatz, deputy superintendent of the Hawai‘i Department of Education.

The ACT is comprised of four subjects: English, mathematics, reading and science. Additionally, all Hawai‘i students take an optional writing test that requires students to respond to a social issue applicable to high school students in an essay format. A composite score is generated by averaging the scores from the four subject area tests, not including the optional writing test. The resulting composite score ranges from 1 to 36.

“Affording all Hawai‘i’s public high school students the opportunity to take the ACT provides useful information for charting individual college plans,” said Schatz. “In addition, individual test results can be easily compared against national demographic data and evaluated against typical scores for various college majors and degree types such as vocational/technical and two-year college degrees to professional level and graduate degrees.