Even as high school graduates in recent years have grown increasingly better prepared for college, too many members of the class of 2009 cannot adequately perform all of the academic skills they will need to succeed, a report says. Just 23% of students, up from 22% last year, earned test scores suggesting they can earn at least a C in first-year college courses in English, math, reading and science, says the report, released today by the non-profit Iowa-based testing company ACT. It's based on scores of 1.48 million 2009 high school graduates who took the ACT's college entrance exam.

That's up from 1.42 million test-takers last year and nearly 1.2 million in 2005. It also represents a 42% increase over five years in black test-takers and a 60% increase in Hispanic test-takers — two populations that tend to earn lower scores on average.

Meanwhile, test scores have remained relatively stable. This year's national average composite scores was 21.1, on a scale of 1 to 36, the same as the past two years, and up 0.1 point from 2005 and 2006.

When the number of test-takers expands to include a more diverse population, "one would reasonably expect a drop," says Cynthia Schmeiser, president of ACT's education division. "We're not seeing that, which to us is a positive indication."

Even so, she says, "I don't want to overblow it. We've got a lot of work to do."

For example, the report found:

•40% of students were not able to use the correct adverb or adjective form in a sentence, use the correct preposition in a phrase or make sure that the subject and verb agree in a sentence.

•30% were unable to evaluate the contribution that significant details make to a text as a whole.

•Nearly 40% could not solve multi-step problems involving fractions and percentages.

•40% could not predict the results of an additional trial of a scientific experiment.

Gene Wilhoit, executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers, says the results show "where we need to elevate state standards."

But Bob Schaeffer, of the non-profit National Center for Fair & Open Testing, interprets the flat scores differently. He describes the ACT trend as "stagnant" and says the federal No Child Left Behind law, enacted under President Bush, "is failing to meet its primary goals," including improving student readiness for college.