ACT scores for Alabama’s 2016 high school graduates are behind the national average, according to a report released today by the college testing organization and the state Department of Education. Requiring all students to take the assessment pulls in some “who may not have been preparing to attend college”.
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Legislation provided the ACT at no cost to families of all high school juniors.
The district had a composite score of 20.3, the second straight year Wilson County jumped by 0.3 of a point.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers said the results are a “solid starting place” for the state.
The average ACT score is also down this year nationally, from 21.0 to 20.8.
Much of RCS’ success is attributed to making core curriculum a priority by ensuring students are taking the right courses, evaluating the rigors of those courses and planning guidance activities based on college and career aspirations.
Tennessee is one of 17 states that makes it mandatory for all students to take the ACT.
The top three colleges that graduates sent their scores to are the University of Utah, Utah State University and Utah Valley University.
Lambert High ranked 15th in the state with a 24.9 composite score.
The national composite score dipped from 21 for the class of 2015 to 20.8 for the class of 2016, but the national and state figures are hard to compare.
But the state’s education commissioner said greater access to the test is worth it.
Generally, students in the Northeast of the country scored highest on the ACT, while those in the South and West “lag behind”.
The amount of students who graduated high school in 2016 and took the ACT reached an all-time high at almost 2.1 million – close to two-thirds of the country’s students.
ACT spokesman Ed Colby said the graduating class of 2012 was the past year for which ACT didn’t report the results from students who took the test’s extended time version, which is given to students with conditions like vision impairments or hyperactivity disorder. The number of students who come from lower-income households increased, as well.
There were some other encouraging results in Wednesday’s report.
In Minnesota, lawmakers set aside funding for all high school juniors take the assessment for the first time in the 2014-15 school year.
The testing company uses the benchmarks to determine how well graduates are prepared for college-level course work, and the latest scores indicate many are not ready. This year, the biggest gap among students hitting three or more benchmarks was between whites and blacks, with 49 percent of white students meeting that mark compared with 12 percent of black students, the results show. Something senior Bailey Price said will boost her college resume. Students can submit SAT scores instead of ACT scores if they wish. The test is created to assess the skills needed for success in first-year college coursework.
“We realized that was one missing piece to overall performance”, McDavid said. In Iowa, 68 percent of graduates took the ACT.
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The most dramatic increases were for Hispanic students, up 44 percent across the U.S. African American student participation has increased 23 percent nationally. Such is the case when a state forces all students to take the ACT as part of its graduation requirements.
