预测act ela和stem基准成绩：高中课程和成绩的作用

Predicting ACT ELA and STEMBenchmark Attainment: The Role of High EDGAR I. SANCHEZ, PHD Conclusions This study provides strong evidence that both the rigor and the quantity of high schoolcoursework in mathematics, science, and English and language arts have a significant influenceon ACT ELA and STEM Benchmark attainment. Students who take advanced coursework,complete more years of subject-specific courses, and maintain higher GPAs are more likely tomeet these benchmarks. Importantly, completing math coursework beyond Algebra II, as well as So What? The findings of this study highlight the strong connection between high school coursework,academic performance, and college readiness, particularly in relation to ACT STEM and ELABenchmarks. For instance, this study underscores how important it is for students to maintain ahigh GPA and take advanced sequenced courses such as math beyond Algebra II and sciencethrough physics, as well as sequenced English coursework, in order to enhance their collegeprospects. Educators and counselors can use these findings to help students make more Now What? This research provides parents and caregivers with information about how they can supporttheir student’s educational journey. It also underscores the need for parents and guardians toprovide sustained academic encouragement and support, as well as seeking useful resources. About the Author Acknowledgements The author would like to thank Dana Murano and CristinaAnguiano-Carrasco for their comments on previous drafts Edgar I. Sanchez, PhD Dr. Sanchez is a lead research scientist atACT, where he studies postsecondaryadmissions, national testing programs, testpreparation efficacy, and interventioneffectiveness. Throughout his career, Dr.Sanchez has focused on studying thetransition between high school and college © 2025 by ACT Education Corp. All rights reserved. | R2433 Introduction The relationship between high school coursework and grades and performance on standardizedtests, particularly the ACT®test, has been the subject of numerous studies. These studiesconsistently emphasize that the quantity, rigor, and successful completion of coursework, The ACT is a standardized college entrance exam widely used in the United States to assesshigh school students’ readiness for college. It evaluates skills in four core areas—English,mathematics, reading, and scientific reasoning—with an optional writing section that measuresessay-writing skills. Each section is scored on a scale of 1 to 36; the Composite score, also on a1-to-36 scale, is the average of these four scores. The ACT is accepted by most four-year Several studies have demonstrated the positive relationship between students’ ACTperformance and the number and types of high school courses they have taken. For instance,Laing (1987) found that an increase in the number of courses taken in a subject was related tohigher scores on the ACT for the corresponding subject test. This relationship was strongest formath and science coursework. Similarly, Harwell et al. (2016) found that students who took at The rigor of the coursework a student takes also plays an important role in determining thatstudent’s outcomes on the ACT. Students who engage in more rigorous coursework, such asAdvanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), and honors courses, tend to score Previous research has also explored the effect of high school coursework in English andlanguage arts on ACT English and reading section test performance. Noble and McNabb (1989)found that students were more likely to score higher on the ACT English and reading sectiontests if they had completed a greater number of years of coursework in English and languagearts. As with STEM subjects, the rigor of the coursework was important; students who took Table 1 presents the average ACT scores and the percentage of students meeting the CollegeReadiness Benchmarks for English, mathematics, reading, science, and social studies Manual (2024). This table demonstrates that both mean scores and percentages of Benchmarkattainment generally increase with additional years of coursework in each subject. For instance,students who took math coursework up to calculus and science courses up to physics tend to Moreover, a study by McNeish et al. (2015) found that coursework and high school grades werestrong predictors of ACT performance, even after accounting for other variables. This studyspecifically explored the connections between noncognitive traits (e.g., hours spent studying per school coursework and grades, and ACT Composite and section scores. It showed that highschool academic factors, including GPA, coursework taken, and advanced coursework taken,explained most of the variance in ACT scores. Importantly, taking higher-level math and sciencecourses as well as accelerated, advanced, honors, or dual enrollment courses was linked tosignificant increases in mean ACT scores. These findings are consistent with earlier