Russell County's ACT scores drop along with Alabama average; Central's, Smiths Station's complete results not released
Last week, when the ACT released this year's results on the national and state levels, the Ledger-Enquirer also reported the composite scores for the local high schools in Georgia, but the local Alabama scores weren't available.
The Georgia Department of Education provides the local information in its state, but the Alabama State Department of Education relies on the local school districts to release their scores.
Since then, Russell County is the only local Alabama school district to share their complete ACT scores with the Ledger-Enquirer by Wednesday's deadline. And, as expected, Russell County's 2015 ACT scores followed Alabama's statewide trend by dropping in every category as compared to 2014.
That's because this past school year was the first time Alabama mandated all 11th-graders take the ACT, using it as an accountability measure for school performance. So while 100 percent of Alabama's 2015 public high school graduates took the ACT, only 58 percent of them took that college entrance exam in Georgia, where the SAT is preferred.
Phenix City Public Schools superintendent Randy Wilkes has sent the L-E an analysis of Central High School's ACT results but not the scores. Smiths Station High School principal Joaquin Richards has sent the L-E an analysis but only his school's 11th-grade scores. The L-E will report on those schools after it receives their complete results.
Russell County interim superintendent Brenda Coley wrote in an email to the L-E, "Because we are testing all 11th graders, we assumed there would be a drop in scores. Because many of our students do not attend college, we face the challenge of motivating them to do their best on the test and to persist in answering all questions."
Coley noted Russell County's teachers "are growing in their knowledge and implementation of the Common Core standards. As they understand the standards more, they will be able to adjust their instruction to meet the demands of a more rigorous assessment."
Asked how Russell County is trying to improve its scores, Coley wrote, "As part of our Continuous Improvement Plan, we are looking at more ways to encourage students to consider college as a next step in life. We are also expanding our Career Tech offerings in order to better prepare students for career readiness. One of the goals at the high school is to increase parental involvement in the discussion of our challenges and in finding solutions.
"With our teachers, we are focusing on the rigor of instruction, tasks, and assessments."
Mark Rice, 706-576-6272. Follow him on Twitter@MarkRiceLE.
ACT COMPOSITE SCORES
School 2014 2015 +/-
Central 18.6 NA NA
Russell 17.8 17.3 -0.5
Smiths NA NA NA
Alabama 20.6 19.1 -1.5
Nation 21.0 21.0 --ACT ENGLISH SCORESSchool 2014 2015 +/-
Central 18.1 NA NA
Russell 17.1 16.6 -0.5
Smiths 19.6 NA NA
Alabama 20.7 18.8 -1.9
Nation 20.3 20.4 +0.1ACT MATH SCORESSchool 2014 2015 +/-
Central 17.9 NA NA
Russell 17.5 16.8 -0.7
Smiths 19.0 NA NA
Alabama 19.5 18.4 -1.1
Nation 20.9 20.8 -0.1ACT READING SCORESSchool 2014 2015 +/-
Central 19.5 NA NA
Russell 18.3 17.9 -0.4
Smiths 20.5 NA NA
Alabama 21.3 19.7 -1.6
Nation 21.3 21.4 +0.1ACT SCIENCE SCORESSchool 2014 2015 +/-
Central 18.5 NA NA
Russell 17.7 17.4 -0.3
Smiths 20.1 NA NA
Alabama 20.4 19.1 -1.3
Nation 20.8 20.9 +0.1
This story was originally published September 2, 2015 at 5:21 PM with the headline "Russell County's ACT scores drop along with Alabama average; Central's, Smiths Station's complete results not released ."