Columbus High School juniors increased ACT scores in spring 2018, while Starkville High School and Lowndes County School District record higher scores than the state average.
Each year, the Mississippi Department of Education allocates $1 million for public high school juniors to take the ACT and mandates those students take the exam. MDE released the spring results earlier this month.
The ACT is a timed, standardized test high school students take for college admittance and scholarships. It covers English, reading, math and science. The highest possible score is 36, with a composite score of 18 being the typical minimum for acceptance into a four-year university. Higher scores increase the likelihood of students earning scholarships.
Columbus High School, which did increase from last year’s ACT average, still scored nearly three points below the state average of 17.8.
In 2017, CHS juniors scored an average composite score of 14.7, whereas this year the average increased to 15. Columbus Municipal School District Superintendent Cherie Labat said preparing students for the ACT has now started earlier.
“Students are receiving more practice questions and we are increasing the overall rigor of instructional delivery,” Labat said. “We have a stronger literacy focus in science. We are starting early by providing ACT professional development for teachers in eighth grade thus exposing students to the expectations of ACT.”
To prepare students for the ACT, CHS Principal Lori Cargile said CHS starts ACT prep for students their freshman year. Last year, each teacher started their classes with a five-to-10-minute ACT drill once a week. To help increase those scores more, Cargile said teachers perform those ACT drills every day.
Before the junior class takes the ACT, Cargile said CHS provides a half-day ACT boot camp to cover test-taking strategies and questions.
“Our plan is the earlier we expose students to that ACT material, the more comfortable they’re going to become with it,” Cargile said. “We have noticed an upward trend in this area, we do want to continue to focus to prepare our students to do well on the ACT. We want to make sure our students leave Columbus High School and can enter the workforce, military or two- or four-year college to be successful.”
LCSD
Juniors at Lowndes County School District, which has three high schools, performed better than the state average as a whole, notching an 18.2.
However, Caledonia High School was the only high school in the district that increased from last year’s numbers, up to 19.3 in 2018 from 19.2 the year before.
New Hope and West Lowndes high school schools, where juniors averaged 17.5 and 15.5, respectively, both scored the same last year and were both shy of the state average.
Deputy Superintendent Robin Ballard said each student at LCSD is required to take an ACT prep class as an elective.
“It helps students acclimate to the testing format to decrease any test anxiety that students might experience,” Ballard said. “Our performance data are just numbers that tell a story of diligent dedication by the students and teachers.”
SOCSD
Starkville High School juniors increased enough to raise the school’s average above the state scores. With 18 point average score, SHS students increased from 17.9 last year.
SHS Principal Sean McDonnall said working each day on ACT prep with students was a major factor in the slight increase.
“One thing we did this year, every teacher is required to give an ACT question every day as a bell ringer,” McDonnall said. “We gave our teachers material to help with test taking strategies so they would work that into their lesson plans. We gave 10th and 11th graders a practice ACT, so now we can see where their strengths and weaknesses are.”
McDonnall said this year, SHS will pay for sophomores to take the ACT test. By doing so, he added, the students will be more comfortable taking the college preparedness test by their junior year.
“The more familiarity they have with the ACT, the more prepared they’re going to be for test day,” McDonnall said. “We’re increasing our average, we’re above the state average so we’re doing something right, We’re going to continue to focus on it because, to me, that ACT is more important than a state test score. That’s going to have implications for them after they leave our building. The better we can get them to perform on that ACT, the more doors that opens when they walk across our stage.”
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