From South Washington County Schools:
Based on the 2013 results released this week, District 833 remains above the state and national averages in all subjects and overall for ACT scores.
The ACT is a national college admissions examination.
District 833 ACT average scale scores remained similar or slightly decreased in 2013 compared to 2012 across the subjects of English (22.8 to 22.8), math (24.3 to 23.9), reading (23.4 to 23.5) and science (23.5 to 23.3).
The district’s overall average composite scale score decreased slightly from 23.6 to 23.5.
The number of district graduating seniors who elected to take the ACT in 2013 dropped from 10-year high of 80.1 percent participation in 2012 to 76.1 percent for 2013, still the second highest in a decade.
When looking at college readiness benchmarks, the percentage of district students meeting the benchmarks across all four subjects rose from 42 percent to 44 percent.
These results should be interpreted with some caution, however, as the benchmarks were adjusted slightly this year, which included an increase in the reading benchmark score and a decrease in the science benchmark score.
Because science has traditionally been the lowest area of college readiness attainment, the drop in the benchmark score artificially increased readiness scores in science and, consequently, across the four subjects.
Similar to the state, District 833 continues to see achievement gaps between white students and students of color.
The district also shows gaps between male and female students, with higher achievement rates for male students in the subject areas of science and mathematics.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
