US News

1855 readers

1 users here now

News from within the empire - From a leftist perspective

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS

muad_dibber@lemmygrad.ml

ACT test scores fall to lowest levels in 32 years (www.axios.com)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by yogthos@lemmygrad.ml to c/us_news@lemmygrad.ml

8 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Interestingly, the scores have been in free fall since the pandemic started and cannot be explained by learning loss from lockdowns as the effects are observed even after in school learning has resumed.

One possible explanation is cognitive loss due to covid infections:

https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/severe-covid-infection-may-lead-to-noticeable-cognitive-loss#:~:text=The%20COVID%20survivors%2C%20especially%20those,be%20about%2010%20IQ%20points

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] Shinhoshi@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Right, but what about who is taking the test?

If the distribution of test takers is skewed, that could influence numbers like average result…

[–] ComradeSalad@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Not many, and mostly those who view the test highly and prepare for it, as it costs a lot of money. There were more students that took it in 2022 as opposed to 2021 (36% vs 35%), but this is down nearly 12% from 2012 when 48% of students took it.

This is not an issue of applicant pool dilution.