August 13, 2008 in City

Washington among top ACT scorers in nation

Idaho students also above average

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For the fifth year in a row, Washington students scored near the top in the nation on the ACT college entrance exam, following only Massachusetts and Connecticut in the state-by-state rankings. Idaho students who took the exam fared slightly better than high school seniors nationwide in math, reading, science and English.

The average ACT composite score – on a scale of 1 to 36 – was 23.1 for Washington’s class of 2008. The national average was 21.1. Massachusetts’ average was 23.6 and Connecticut’s was 23.3. Washington tied with New Hampshire and New York.

The average composite score was 21.5 for Idaho’s class of 2008.

In general, scores are higher in states where a smaller percentage of high school graduates take the exam. Washington and Massachusetts had a participation rate of 17 percent of the class of 2008. Fifteen percent of New Hampshire’s seniors took the test and 23 percent of New York’s class of 2008 participated.

Nationwide, only 22 percent of the 1.42 million high school students who took the ACT were deemed prepared to succeed in the test subjects during college. These are students the ACT defines as having a 75 percent chance of earning a passing grade in math, reading, science and English.

In Idaho, results that showed only 45 percent of high school seniors would move on to succeed in math during college were disappointing after statewide initiatives to improve test scores in this subject, said state Department of Education spokeswoman Melissa McGrath.

Idaho high school seniors who took the ACT showed they were better prepared to tackle English and reading.

“In math, it looks like we’re lagging behind a little bit,” McGrath said.

Overall, though, the ACT results showed students in Idaho scored better than students did nationwide.

In Washington, 53 percent of the class of 2008 took the SAT, and the average scores were 526 in reading and 531 in math. The state’s average scores were the highest among states in which more than 30 percent of eligible students took the test.

The SAT has historically been more popular on the East and West coasts, while more students in the Midwest and inland Western states take the ACT. Idaho is among 26 states where more than 50 percent of high school seniors took the ACT.

Washington students who took the ACT were above the national average in each section, with an average math score of 23.2 percent compared with the national average of 21; an average reading score of 23.7 compared with the national average of 21.4; an average science score of 22.4 compared with the national average of 20.8; and an average English score of 22.7 compared with the national average of 20.6.

Washington Superintendent of Public Instruction Terry Bergeson said the scores show the state’s top students are more college ready than their peers around the nation.

Those students who reported taking “college-track” courses – four years of English and three of math, social studies and science – did better on the ACT than the rest of Washington’s class of 2008. The average composite score for Washington students on the college track was 23.7.

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