Henry County High School students compiled a composite ACT score of 20.2 this year, according to Brian Norton, county director of schools. The Beaufort County School District outperformed the state by 0.2 points with an average composite score of 18.7, down from 20.7 in 2015.
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Lafayette performs better than the state in the percentage of students ready for college in biology, algebra, and social science, trailing the state in only English composition. That number is up from 20.8 for the class of 2015. Minnesota’s score was still Number One among the 18 states where students were required to take the A-C-T followed by Illinois, Colorado, and neighboring Wisconsin. Subject-level subscores indicate the district has exceeded state scores and shown steady improvement in science and reading.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Sydnee Dickson congratulated students and teachers for maintaining their ACT scores, even as grades went down nationally.
The state Department of Education called the scores a “notable accomplishment” as average scores tend to decrease with a broadening of the testing base.
Nationwide, more students took the ACT as well.
The ACT is the nation’s leading college-entrance exam, taken by a record 2.1 million students among the 2016 class. In the past, the state has paid for public school juniors to take the ACT, but plans to switch to the SAT exam this spring instead.
Kentucky has set its own “college ready” benchmarks which are lower than the national standards set by ACT, which Curl says puts students at a disadvantage. Still, that resulted in an additional 1,369 students meeting all four benchmarks and being identified as college ready over 2015’s numbers.
30 percent are college-ready in all four subjects, compared with 26 percent statewide and 26 percent nationally.
In Nevada, 89 percent of the 2016 class can’t meet all four of these benchmarks.
The administration of Edwardsville District 7 Schools has recently been notified that the Edwardsville High School Class of 2016 earned the highest composite score – 23.2 – achieved by EHS seniors in the last 10 years.
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Utah students improved their English scores slightly from 19.3 to 19.4; dropped slightly on their math scores from 19.7 to 19.6; and made no changes to their reading and science scores at 20.8 and 20.3, respectively.
