Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter

CAT Tracks for August 16, 2006 ACT SCORES RISE

From the Southern Illinoisan...

State officials applaud increase in ACT scores

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SPRINGFIELD - Illinois high school students taking a key college-entrance exam scored slightly higher this year than last, and officials applauded the improvement Wednesday.

The state's ACT composite score was 20.5 in 2006, two-tenths of a point higher than last year, among 137,400 students who labored through the exam.

"When you're talking (about) this many kids across the entire state and what it takes to move the needle, it is a very big deal," state schools Superintendent Randy Dunn said.

Illinois, however, did not gain any ground on the national average, which also jumped two-tenths of a point to reach 21.1. That is the biggest gain in two decades, ACT officials said.

Dunn said his excitement about the overall improvement does not extend to the continuing gap in achievement among racial and ethnic groups. Asian students averaged 22.6 and whites, 22; while Hispanics tallied 17.9 and blacks, 16.9.

The highest possible score on the ACT, taken by 1.2 million students nationally this year, is 36, a feat achieved by 33 test-takers in Illinois.

All Illinois high school juniors - rather than just college-bound students - are required to take the ACT as part of the Prairie State Achievement Exam, a statewide exit test. The 2006 tally of 20.5 was four-tenths of a point higher than in 2002, the first year every pupil sat for the exam.