ATLANTA — Eight of the nine Southern Regional Education Board states that predominantly use the ACT college admission test bucked the national trend by improving their average statewide scores or by staying the same as last year, according to data released today.
Iowa-based ACT Inc. announced today that the national average composite score on the admission test dropped by 0.1 of a point from 2007 to 2008. All but one SREB state avoided such a drop. Four of the nine SREB states that predominantly offer students the ACT saw their average statewide scores rise by up to 0.2 of a point, while four SREB states’ average scores remained the same.
Florida saw its average score drop 0.1 of a point. For the first time, Florida had more than 50 percent of graduating seniors taking the ACT. The Sunshine State contributed significantly to the region’s increase in the numbers of minority students taking the admission test.
Most SREB states held their own even as more than 29,000 additional students took the test than in 2007, and nearly half of the increase was among racial/ethnic minority students — a signal that more minority students are pursuing college.
The overall percentages of graduating seniors who had taken the test rose in six of the nine SREB states where students predominantly take the ACT.
Still, major gaps between average scores for white students and their black and Hispanic peers remained and need to be addressed further. Black students nationally and in SREB states have seen their average scores rise only slightly in recent years, although more black students are taking the exam.
"It’s an encouraging sign that many of our states continue to make progress even as many more students take the ACT," SREB President Dave Spence said. "But states need to work harder to close gaps in achievement between groups of students and to ensure more students are well-prepared for college-level work and career training when they graduate from high school."
SAT results will be announced by the New Jersey-based College Board in the coming weeks.
SREB, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization based in Atlanta, Georgia, advises state education leaders on ways to improve education. SREB was created in 1948 by Southern governors and legislatures to help leaders in education and government work cooperatively to advance education and improve the social and economic life of the region. SREB has 16 member states: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. Each is represented by its governor and four gubernatorial appointees.
