The College Readiness report shows how many students met college readiness benchmarks on the SAT standardized test in Reading and Writing, Mathematics, and Total Score. SAT benchmark scores are 480 for Reading and Writing, and 530 for Math.
According to The College Board, students who meet or exceed these benchmarks have a 75% chance of earning a C or better in first-semester, credit-bearing college courses in these subjects.
The College Readiness Report is updated annually in late summer. See the Recently Posted Reports page for when the report was last updated.
Note: In Spring 2024 the College Board SAT Suite of Assessments transitioned to a new online assessment design.
Due to the suspension of state assessments, assessment data for the 2019-20 school year is not available for M-STEP, MI-Access, SAT, PSAT, or ACT WorkKeys. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States Education Department issued a waiver of the federal requirement that Michigan students take statewide summative assessments during the 2019-20 school year, as well as for waivers of related accountability and report card requirements. Executive Order 2020-65 waived state requirements for these assessments.
Historical Changes
- Prior to the 2015-16 school year, the ACT College Readiness examination was used to measure the proficiency of high school students in English, mathematics, reading, and science. The ACT scores displayed on MI School Data are from the ACT Plus Writing portion of the Michigan Merit Examination.
Use the Location and Report Settings menu to review college readiness rates by different categories such as school year and subject. Choosing a specific subject (any option except “All Subjects”) allows you to further refine the report by categories such as gender, race and ethnicity, economically disadvantaged status, English learners, students with disabilities, homeless, and migrant students.
The Student Type/Crosstab allows you to add a second category refinement. For example, selecting a Report Category of gender and a Student Type/Crosstab of Economically Disadvantaged will produce a report of college readiness benchmarks by gender, with each gender result further broken down by economically disadvantaged status.
Data view options include:
- Performance Level vs. Mean Scaled Score
- Performance Level: the percentage of students meeting benchmarks.
- Mean Scaled Score: the average test score for a group of students.
- Snapshot: a graph and table of the selected data
- Trend: a graph and table show changes in data over time
- Entity Breakdown: a table shows the data for the selected entity and related entities; if you’ve selected a particular district, the Entity Breakdown would show data for that district, ISD and individual buildings within the district
See the MI School Data Quick Start Guide for the basics of navigating the site and customizing a report.
Location Options
These options can be customized in the Location and Report Settings menu.
Locations Setting options: Statewide, ISD, District and School
The Center for Educational Performance and Information collects the data used to compile this report.
- CEPI’s Michigan Student Data System is used to provide students’ high school building, district, and intermediate school district information as well as demographics. More information about this application can be found in the MSDS Collection Details Manual.
- The Michigan Department of Education Office of Educational Assessment and Accountability, provided the test data.
SAT College Readiness data are based on the SAT with Essay test completed during the Michigan Merit Examination in the spring of grade 11.
ACT College Readiness data are based on ACT tests completed during the Michigan Merit Examination in the spring of grade 11 for years prior to 2015-16.
Results are reported at the school where the student was tested.
If you have questions not addressed here or in the linked resources, please contact CEPI customer support at cepi@michigan.gov.
Disclosure Avoidance
New disclosure avoidance rules were recently implemented on MI School Data. Please see the College Readiness Disclosure Avoidance Rules for more details.
Report Labels
See the glossary for additional terms and acronyms used on MI School Data.
ACT: The ACT is a standardized test that was taken by Michigan students prior to the 2015-16 school year.
SAT: The SAT is a standardized test started in 1926 by The College Board. Michigan students take the SAT with Essay administration during the Michigan Merit Examination in the spring of 11th grade.
Data Calculations
The SAT Total Score reported for Michigan is the combined Evidenced-Based Reading and Writing, and Math Student Score. The Total Score range is 400-1600.
The ACT Composite Score is the average of four test scores, rounded to the nearest whole number. Fractions less than one-half are rounded down; fractions one-half or more are rounded up. The scoring range for the composite score is 1-36.
Each ACT College Readiness Benchmark is the minimum score required on that multiple-choice ACT test: English, Math, Reading or Science. The Benchmarks are empirically derived from the performance of a large, nationally representative sample of first-year students in two- and four-year postsecondary institutions. Therefore, each Benchmark represents a criterion for success for a typical student at a typical institution.
For additional information about the ACT, composite score and scoring, please refer to the ACT website.
