ACT – Staff Writer
“Relatively few STEM-interested students are well prepared to succeed in college STEM courses, according to The Condition of STEM 2015, released today by ACT. The report shows that only 26 percent of ACT-tested 2015 graduates who were interested in STEM met or surpassed the new ACT STEM College Readiness Benchmark. The benchmark, which makes its debut in this report, is an indicator of whether a student is well prepared for the types of first-year college courses required for a college STEM-related major. “These findings confirm the conclusions we drew from our Condition of College & Career Readiness 2015 report—namely, that the country needs to take strong, urgent action to avoid a looming crisis in college and career readiness,” said Marten Roorda, ACT chief executive officer. “This is especially troubling in the important area of STEM, which has a growing impact on the nation’s competitiveness in the global economy.””(more)