Innovation
University Entrance Exam Scores of Arizona High School Students
Description: This indicator measures the SAT and ACT university entrance exam scores of Arizona high school students. The SAT test historically consisted of two parts — critical reading and mathematics — but a third section, writing, was added in 2006. Each subject of the test is scored on a 200 to 800 scale. The ACT test is scored on a 1 to 36 scale. A composite score and scores for each of the four subjects — English, mathematics, reading, and science — are available. (However, subject scores in Arizona are not available from the ACT website prior to 2001.)
The SAT and ACT scores for Arizona and the United States are presented on the website from 1998 through 2007. In addition, the percentage of students taking each test is calculated from enrollment figures of 12th grade students on October 1. Since some students take SAT and ACT exams prior to the 12th grade, and since the exams are given on various dates, October 1 enrollment serves as a proxy for the potential number of students who could take a university entrance exam.
Rationale: Innovation requires the steady input of human capital into the workforce and into institutions of higher learning. The performance on university entrance exams of Arizona high school students is a measure of the quality of those Arizona students entering universities.
Data Sources: The College Board (SAT) http://professionals.collegeboard.com/data-reports-research/sat/archived and ACT http://www.act.org/news/data.html.
Comments on the Quality of the Data: As noted above, the percentage of students taking an entrance exam is based on enrollment figures that are a proxy for the potential number of students who could take an exam. In Arizona, the population of test takers is self selected: only those students considering applying to universities typically take these entrance exams and these generally are students with higher achievement levels. In some states, however, these tests are either mandated of all students or are taken by a very high proportion of students.
As a result, the percentage of students taking the SAT test in Arizona in 2006 was barely more than half the national average; the proportion taking the ACT was considerably less than half. Two-thirds of the test takers in Arizona ranked in the top 20 percent of their class, versus only 56 percent nationally. Thus, Arizona’s higher scores relative to the national average in part reflect the more selective nature of Arizona test takers in comparison to the national norm.
