Virginia students again outscore students nationwide on ACT, Virginia DOE reports

Virginia students again outperformed their peers nationwide by significant margins on the ACT in 2016 as the number of high school seniors in VIrginia taking the college-readiness examination continued to grow.

The percentage of Virginia public school students meeting the ACT’s college-readiness benchmark in each assessed content area in 2016 was 15 or more points higher than the percentages nationwide. The college-readiness benchmarks identify students whose ACT scores indicate that they are prepared for first-year college English composition, reading, algebra and biology.
 
“Thanks to effective teachers focused on high state standards and supported by strong division leadership, Virginia graduates continue to surpass national college-readiness benchmarks,”  Superintendent of Public Instruction Steven R. Staples was quoted as saying in a press release. “With increasing ACT participation among Virginia graduates, we are better able to use these measurements to predict how successful our young people will be for their first year of college.” 

Virginia’s public school students achieved a composite score of 23.1 on the ACT, compared with 20.8 for graduates nationwide. Public school students accounted for 45 of the 55 Virginia graduates who achieved perfect scores on the test.

Virginia public school 2016 graduates achieved gains on the reading and science portions of the ACT, compared with the average scores in 2015. Performance of students nationwide was relatively flat.

“We are most appreciative of the efforts of local boards, school leaders and teachers to embrace the importance of preparing students to be college and career ready. Continued student gains on the ACT reflect the collective commitment of key state and local partners to prepare each graduate for success beyond high school,” State Board President, Billy K. Cannaday Jr. was quoted as saying in the release.

ACT results are reported on a scale of 1 to 36, with 36 being the highest score.