MCSD sets records in 2020 ACT score report. Here’s how students performed on exam
The Muscogee County School District has produced its highest set of scores on the ACT college entrance exam, according to results released Wednesday.
MCSD’s Class of 2020 recorded the district’s all-time highs on the composite average and three of the four subject tests.
The composite average for MCSD this year is 19.9. That’s an increase of 0.1 point on the 36-point scale compared to last year, but the district’s gap compared to the state average grew while Georgia’s composite score increased by 0.3 points to 21.7.
The national average decreased by 0.1 point to 20.6.
Broken down by subject tests compared to last year, MCSD improved in all four areas:
- Increased by 0.3 points to 19.4 in math. Its best score in that subject is 19.5 in 2017.
- Increased by 0.2 points to 19.8 for an all-time high in science.
- Increased by 0.1 point to 20.8 for an all-time high in reading.
- Increased by 0.1 point to 19.1 for an all-time high in English.
MCSD’s participation rate fell for the second straight year, with 39.4% of the senior class taking the ACT, compared to 44% in 2018 and 41% in 2019.
“We are pleased with our students’ continued improvement, realizing all-time highs in three of the four assessed areas and the composite average, despite the recent challenges,” MCSD superintendent David Lewis said in the district’s news release. “Similar to the SAT, the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the number of test takers and our students’ ability to complete college preparatory coursework in the spring.”
The Ledger-Enquirer reported last month that MCSD, for the second straight year, outperformed the state average and stretched its margin over the national average on the SAT college entrance exam.
MCSD’s class of 2020 average score of 1048 is 8 points lower than 2019, but remains above the Georgia average of 1043, which fell by 5 points, and the national average of 1030, which fell by 9 points on the 1,600-point scale.
The percentage of MCSD students who took the SAT in this year’s graduating class is 5 percentage points lower than last year: 43% in 2020, compared to 48% in 2019.
Here are MCSD’s individual high school composite averages for the ACT and how they compare to last year’s senior class:
- Columbus 25.9, stayed the same.
- Northside 20.2, decreased by 0.2 points.
- Shaw 17.8, increased by 0.3 points.
- Hardaway 17.7, decreased by 0.6 points.
- Jordan 17.6, increased by 1.3 points.
- Carver 16.7, stayed the same.
- Spencer 15.7, increased by 0.2 points.
- Kendrick 14.9, decreased by 1.3 points.
- Rainey-McCullers not available because not enough students took the ACT. More than 15 students must take the test for the Georgia Department of Education to release a school’s average scores, spokeswoman Meghan Frick told the L-E.
This story was originally published October 14, 2020 at 11:58 AM.
