brutal...the ACT's of JCPS

The front page of this morning's C-J carries a report on the average ACT scores of high schools in Jefferson County (Louisville), Kentucky. The results...

-average scores at 13 of the 22 government/public high schools were so low that students at their school's average would not be eligible to take college-level courses that would count toward a degree at a Kentucky public university (with the higher standards to be imposed in 2009, the number would be 17 of 22)

-among individual test-takers, 57% of math students met the minimum in math and 50% had the minimum in reading (although the article does not note the percentage who had both-- the vital statistic)

-the JCPS average was 20.1, but only 5 of the 22 schools had averages above the state and national averages (20.7 and 21.2 respectively)

-among government high schools, average ACT's ranged from 15.5 at Western to 25.3 at Seneca

-of the standard public high schools, the proportion of students taking the ACT ranged from 31% at Iroquois to 94% at Male

-only six private high schools reported data (Assumption, Christian Academy of Louisville, Evangel Christian, KCD, Mercy, and Trinity); of those, scores ranged from Evangel's 20.6 to CAL's 25.1 and Trinity's 25.5; and the proportion of test-takers was at least 95% in every case

There are many reasons why test scores at government schools would be so low-- despite spending more than $10K per student. But, of course, setting them up as a government-run entity with significant monopoly power (especially over those parents/students with less income) is not a good recipe for high quality or low costs.