PIXABAY
For the third year in a row — since Hawaii began requiring all public school juniors to take the ACT in 2013 in English, reading, math and science — the composite score for all subjects has risen to 18 from 17.3, on a 36-point scale.
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Test scores are out on the annual ACT college entrance exams, and it’s one of those good news, bad news situations.
The good news is that for the third year in a row — since Hawaii began requiring all public school juniors to take the ACT in 2013 in English, reading, math and science — the composite score for all subjects has risen to 18 from 17.3, on a 36-point scale. Nationally, average scores stayed flat.
The bad news? Most Hawaii students weren’t college-ready. Of the 12,232 public and private test-taking students, only 17 percent of them met all the four benchmarks scores in English, reading, math and science. Obviously, there’s much, much more work ahead.
Raise in state revenue forecast also lifts spirits
The experts are predicting positive trends for the state’s economic forecast over the next two years, and that’s encouraging. Growth is expected at 4.3 percent, a slightly higher rate over the previous 4 percent, thanks to heavy-hitters tourism and construction. That would put the state on track to get over $6.62 billion in taxes this year.
Up is better than down, of course — especially with much of those monies already dedicated to such constants as wages, worker benefits and myriad programs. Oh, and we mustn’t forget the rail project — as if we could.