Tennessee’s 2018 public school graduates were the most prepared for college in the state’s history, according to ACT data released Wednesday by the Tennessee Department of Education.
Ensuring every student is ready for postsecondary education and the workforce is one of SCORE’s three student achievement goals. When students attain benchmark scores on the ACT, they are more likely to pass college-level courses and go on to earn associate’s and bachelor’s degrees.
The statewide average ACT composite score of 20.2 is the highest ever for Tennessee students, up from 20.1 in 2017. Here are other notable indicators from these ACT results:
- Economically disadvantaged students improved faster than all students. We want to see historically underserved students outpace the state average to eliminate achievement disparities,.
- Students with a 21 or higher composite score increased 1 point to 43.2 percent. A 21 composite score is notable for two reasons. First, the benchmark to earn the HOPE Scholarship and up to $8,000 over four years is a composite of 21 or better. Second, a composite of 21 is one of the key indicators for the Ready Graduate measure in the accountability system Tennessee created under the Every Student Achieves Act.
- Tennessee is the only state that provides seniors a free ACT retake at their high school. The new results confirm that about four in ten students raised their overall score on the retake.
- Tennessee’s average ACT score improved in reading, English, and math and held steady in science. The biggest gain was in reading, up 0.3 points from 2017.