Students in grades 7 and 8

The National Middle School Association highlighted this new report
from ACT with the observation that "students who are not on track for
college and career readiness by eighth grade are not likely to attain
that level of readiness by high school graduation."

As NMSA notes,the research developed by ACT (the college admissions testing
company) indicates that the level of academic achievement students
attain by eighth grade has a bigger impact on college and career
preparedness than any single factor examined, including courses
taken, grades earned in high school, or student testing behaviors.

"Armed with this knowledge," NMSA concludes, "we believe it has never
been more critical for our nation to focus on students in the middle
grades." Read the report, which NMSA and NASSP have described as
"astounding," by downloading the PDF at the link above.