Muscogee, Chattahoochee counties improve on ACT scores

While the U.S. composite score on the ACT remained the same from last year to this year, six of the nine Muscogee County public schools, as well as Chattahoochee County High, improved their result along with Georgia's average, which matched the national number.

The scores were released Wednesday.

Alabama's average composite score fell 1.5 points as more than 17,000 additional students took the test because the state administered it to all of its 11th-graders for the first time. The district and school results in Alabama weren't available.

The ACT is one of the two college entrance exams in the United States. It is more prevalent in Alabama, where 100 percent of the state's 2015 graduates took the ACT, compared to 58 percent in Georgia, where the SAT is preferred.

Chattahoochee County led the local gainers as its ACT composite score soared 4.1 points. The score also increased at Early College 1.4, Carver 0.8, Columbus 0.8, Northside 0.8, Jordan 0.6 and Shaw 0.6.

Hardaway's composite score remained flat. The score decreased at Kendrick 0.5, Spencer 0.2 and Harris County 0.1.

Overall for Muscogee County, the composite score increased by 0.4 points, from 18.6 to 19.0. That closed the achievement gap with the state by 0.2 points, from 2.2 to 2.0.

The district increased its number of students who took the ACT, from 823 to 839, which is encouraging, said MCSD communications director Valerie Fuller, because having more test-takers makes it harder to improve the average score.

"The College and Career Performance Readiness Indicators (CCRPI) are targets set by Georgia," Fuller told the Ledger-Enquirer in an email. "These performance targets have focused our high schools on providing instructional supports in place that have helped increase the results on the ACT in working toward full-option graduation for all students. The district has increased advanced and college level course work in our high schools, which include dual enrollment and advanced placement (AP). We are now offering three high school courses at all of our middle schools.

MCSD Superintendent David Lewis, hired in July 2013, divided the district's central administration into three regions before last school year to connect support staff, such as academic and graduation coaches, closer to the schools.

"It has helped teachers and students improve instruction and learning," Fuller said.

Despite the improvement, MCSD officials remain concerned that the district still lags behind the state and national ACT average composite scores, Fuller said.

Asked what the district is doing to address that concern, she said, "Our Region Chiefs, along with the Division of Teaching and Learning, will continue to analyze the achievement data associated with all state and national assessments. We will work with the region and academic coaches to support the teachers on instructional strategies that support student achievement."

Chattahoochee County superintendent David McCurry, in his second year leading this district, noted the 19.2 composite score is the high school's highest in more than five years.

"Though these scores fall just below the state average, we're very excited to see such improvement," he told the Ledger-Enquirer in an email. "Our teachers and administrators have done a tremendous job of focusing on ways to improve teaching and learning over the past year, and our students are very hard workers. I have no doubt we'll see a continued growth trend in ACT scores."

ChattCo's ACT subject scores improved in all four areas: from 13.6 to 18.9 in English, from 15.7 to 18.8 in math, from 16.3 to 19.3 in reading, and from 14.8 to 19.3 in science.

Harris County superintendent Jimmy Martin wasn't reached for comment.

Georgia's average composite score increased from 20.8 in 2014 to 21.0 in 2015, equaling the national average and improving its national rank from 30th to 28th. Georgia outperformed the following Southern states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia.

"Georgia students' ACT performance is on par with the nation and outpaces most other Southern states, and I'm pleased to see that," Georgia School Superintendent Richard Woods said in a news release. "These results are a testament to the hard work of our teachers. I think we'll continue to see gains as we realign our focus and implement child-focused, classroom-centered policies."

Georgia's average scores on the ACT subject tests increased in English from 20.3 to 20.6, in reading from 21.4 to 21.6, and in science from 20.7 to 20.9. The math score remained 20.5.

The improvement in Georgia's average composite score includes gains among minorities: Blacks from 17.6 to 17.8, Hispanics/Latinos from 19.9 to 20.1, and multiracial from 21.0 to 21.4.

Alabama Superintendent of Education Tommy Bice said in a news release, "The results from 2015 indicate that we have much to accomplish to ensure more students are ready for college-level coursework without the need for remediation. We also recognize that not every student will pursue this pathway, which is why we now have five other measures of college- and career-readiness that can lead to a successful life as an adult."

Mark Rice, 706-576-6272. Follow him on Twitter@MarkRiceLE.

ACT COMPOSITE SCORES

School 2014 2015 +/-

Carver 16.0 16.8 +0.8

ChattCo 15.1 19.2 +4.1

Columbus 24.8 25.6 +0.8

Early College 16.8 18.2 +1.4

Hardaway 18.0 18.0 --

Harris 20.5 20.4 -0.1

Jordan 16.2 16.8 +0.6

Kendrick 16.2 15.7 -0.5

Northside 19.3 20.1 +0.8

Shaw 17.4 18.0 +0.6

Spencer 16.4 16.2 -0.2

Georgia 20.8 21.0 +0.2

Alabama 20.6 19.1 -1.5

National 21.0 21.0 --

This story was originally published August 26, 2015 at 7:41 PM with the headline "Muscogee, Chattahoochee counties improve on ACT scores ."