For Immediate Release
Wednesday, August 18, 2004
The composite scores for Madison students who took the ACT collegiate entrance exam are up over last year, and for the 18th straight year Madison students outperformed their state and national peers. In 2003-04, Madison students compiled a 24.2 composite score on the test compared to 23.9 a year ago.
The 24.2 also compares favorably to a 22.2 composite score for all Wisconsin exam-takers, and 20.9 for students across the nation. The average Madison ACT student scored higher than roughly 70% of all Wisconsin participants, and higher than 76% of national ACT participants.
Over 70 percent of Madison 12th graders took the ACT. The average composite score decreased slightly for African American students (18.3 this year vs. 18.6 last year) and for White students (24.7 vs. 24.8,) while Asian (22.3 vs. 22.2) and Hispanic (21.7 vs. 21.1) students increased from a year ago.
In the major ethnic groups, Madison students outperformed their peers across the state and nation in average composite score. Compared to their state peers, MMSD ethnic and racial subgroups scored generally 8% to 9% higher, and compared to their national peers, these same subgroups scored 9% to 10% higher (except for Asians, which were 2% higher).
The ACT exam is administered locally by the American College Testing Program and covers English, math, reading, and science reasoning. The ACT exam is graded on a scale of 1 to 36. The ACT is one of two major tests (SAT, the other) for students planning to enter a four-year college.
ACT Score Comparison by Year
Average Composite:
Year Madison Wisc US 2003-04 24.2 22.2 20.9 2002-03 23.9 22.2 20.8 2001-02 24.4 22.2 20.8 2000-01 24.1 22.2 21.0 1999-00 24.2 22.2 21.0 1998-99 24.4 22.3 21.0 1997-98 24.5 22.3 21.0 1996-97 24.5 22.3 21.0 1995-96 23.8 22.1 20.9 1994-95 23.5 22.0 20.8
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email: newsrelease@madison.k12.wi.us
Last Modified: 2004-08-18
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