While many 2016 high school graduates are interested in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) majors and careers, few of those students are well prepared to succeed in first-year college STEM courses.
These findings emerge from the latest edition of ACT’s annual STEM report, “The Condition of STEM 2016,” which was released Thursday.
Nearly half (48 percent) of the 2.1 million 2016 American high school graduates who took the ACT test expressed an interest in STEM majors or careers, the report found. However, only 26 percent of those graduates met or surpassed the ACT College Readiness Benchmark in STEM. The benchmark is an indicator of whether a student is well prepared for first-year courses such as calculus, biology, chemistry and physics, which are typically required for a college STEM-related major. These findings are virtually unchanged from last year, the report found.
