All students should take the ACT

For some high school students nearing graduation, the fee they must pay to take the ACT is the first financial hurdle standing in their path toward college.

For these teenagers from low-income homes, the $34 minimum cost to take the test one time is hard to come by. Still, it’s in their interests and the best interest of the state for all high school students to take the ACT. That’s why the Legislature should pass Sen. Margaret Dayton’s bill to make the ACT the required standardized test for high school juniors, at state expense.

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Many states have a similar law.

Senate Bill 10 would eliminate the 10th-grade basic skills competency test and replace it with the ACT. The cost would be about $700,000 annually.

There are two versions of the ACT, one with a writing section and one without. The state should not pay the extra $15.50 to cover the "ACT plus writing" version, as no Utah public colleges or universities require it. Brigham Young University recommends its applicants take the writing test but does not require it. Utah high school juniors should be able to opt to take the writing version and pay the extra cost.

Students who want to improve their score by retaking the test should also pay for that.

But, while footing the bill for all students to take the test is the right thing to do, legislators, educators and parents should realize that widening the pool of test-takers will probably lower the average score for the state. Utah now can boast an average ACT score slightly above the national average, but Utah is competing with those states in which all students take the test.

The average Utah ACT score was 21.8 out of 36 possible points last year. Nationally, the average was 21.1. Utah ranked ninth among all states in which at least half of all students took the test.

The good news is that 14.3 percent more students took the test last year, including a whopping 151 percent increase among Latinos. But all students should be required to take the ACT, whether or not they immediately plan on going to college. Plans can change.

Utah is starting a downward spiral toward mediocrity in education, with fewer high school graduates ready for college and a smaller percentage of the population holding college degrees.

Helping remove financial barriers to college should begin to encourage Utah’s youths to, first, take the courses they need to get ready for college, and second, realize that the goal of a college degree is attainable.