For the sixth year in a row, Minnesota students have produced the highest scores on the ACT in states where more than 50 percent of high school graduates took the test.
The ACT is a standardized exam used in consideration for college admittance and determines how ready high school graduates are to perform well in college classes. The exam tests science, math, reading and English. The test is used in 27 states.
The average composite score of 2010 Minnesota graduates was 22.9 out of 36 total points, up .2 points from 2009 graduates, who averaged 22.7 points.
The composite average of Minnesota students is almost two points higher than the national composite score average of 21. That score fell from the 2009 average of 21.1.
While Minnesota scored the highest among states where more than 50 percent of students took the test, Minnesota students did not score the highest average overall, as several states had fewer than 50 percent of students take the test. In Massachusetts, for example, the average composite score was 24 points, but only 21 percent of 2010 graduates took the test. In Minnesota, about 70 percent, or 44,300, students completed the ACT exam.
In some states, all students are required to complete the exam, regardless of whether they intend to apply to college or not. These states include Kentucky, Illinois and Michigan. Because of different testing requirements from state-to-state, it is becoming more difficult to compare test score averages between the states, according to Barb Schlaefer, the spokeswoman for the Minnesota State Office of Higher Education.
Other top-scoring states include Iowa, where students averaged a 22.2 composite score and Wisconsin and Nebraska, both of which had students who averaged a composite score of 22.1.
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