U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige today issued the following statement regarding the 2004 ACT scores:

"The latest ACT test results contain much good news and much room for improvement. The good news is clear: scores for high school graduates have risen nationally for the first time since 1997.

"Even more impressive, this improvement has occurred as the number of students taking the test has expanded. Four out of every 10 graduates in the United States this year took the ACT. Scores for nearly all racial and ethnic groups increased, as did scores for female students.

"This reinforces President Bush's strong belief that every student can learn, no matter what their skin color, ethnicity, gender, spoken accent or zip code may be. This belief is the rationale and the aim of the No Child Left Behind Act.

"However, the results show that we are still leaving too many children behind—unprepared for college and lacking the skills they need to succeed in the 21st Century. Too few students are being encouraged to take core college preparatory coursework in high school; the number has risen by an anemic five percent over the past 10 years. Even fewer are taking advanced math and science classes.

"The lesson is clear: to continue our progress, our schools must encourage more students to take challenging coursework, and to measure their abilities by taking the ACT and similar tests. Their growth—and America's—depend on it."

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