DES MOINES, Iowa — A national drop in ACT test scores is making some educators reevaluate the need for the standardized tests.
Years ago, students couldn't get into college without taking the ACT.
Now, Coy Marquardt with the Iowa State Education Association said he feels the standardized test doesn't hold the weight it once did.
"We see ACT scores as just one small measure of student learning, and I would even submit not the most important or even one of the most important measures of student learning," Marquardt said.
In 2022, the Iowa Board of Regents voted to remove the ACT requirements for all three public universities in Iowa, something Judy Hintz, an ACT prep advisor at Educational Resource Associates, sees as a deterrent to Iowa students.
"I think ACT is a true measure of the performance and it still has the rigor that we used to have in this in the simple Iowa Test of Basic Skill," Hintz said.
However, Marquardt believes getting rid of the ACT requirement is a way to close gaps.
"[Standardized tests have historically had cultural and ethnic barriers to the test questions," Marquardt said. "There are economic disadvantages to access for those tests."
According to data from ACT, the average score in 2022 was 19.8, the lowest average score since 1991.
In Iowa, the average composite score in 2022 was 21.4, down just 0.1 from 2021. However, a lower number of students in Iowa are taking the ACT now than they were in 2013: Only 49% of Iowa students took the ACT in 2022, compared to 66% of students in 2013.
Marquardt says both of the drops are non-issues, citing the removal of the ACT requirement as the cause.
"It's such a miniscule difference in scores from the past few years," Marquardt said. "I think the important piece to look at as well is the participation rate is dropping. And the number of students taking ACT tests are dropping nationwide, but especially in Iowa. And we are not a state that requires them."
Hintz encourages students to test anyways, as she believes the ACT better prepares kids for college and can bring along more opportunities.
"These kids can fully scholarship and they do," Hintz said. "Sometimes they want to get into a certain school of business or something in a university. And if they get a certain score, they get more money or they get into that college."
Still, Marquardt says there are better assessments happening at the classroom level.
"The districts and educators know what's best for their students," he said. "And that's as opposed to a standardized test. I trust the word of the educator in the classroom on how well their students are doing."