One of the more cautionary messages in the new report package from the ACT, Inc. about the Kentucky High School Class of 2012 involves the very large number of graduates who scored far below the ACT Benchmark Scores that show which students are on track to pass their first college courses.

This graph, taken from the new ACT report, “The Condition of College & Career Readiness | 2012, Kentucky,” shows the problem. The segments in slate grey color show the percentage of the graduates from the Class of 2012 that scored more than three points below the college readiness Benchmark score for the related subject.

Notice that in both math and science more than 60 percent of the graduates in 2012 scored at least three points below the Benchmark score. Those students are highly likely to face serious challenges should they continue on to college. Most likely, without considerable and expensive remedial courses that do not provide college graduation credit, those students will not succeed.