Wednesday’s release, October 17, by the South Carolina Department of Education of results for the 2018 ACT college admissions assessment shows members of the graduating Class of 2018 in Aiken County Public Schools outperforming state public schools in nearly all subject areas assessed.
According to the South Carolina Department of Education, The ACT is a national college admissions examination that consists of subject area tests in English, mathematics, reading, and science. The test includes 215 multiple-choice questions with a "36" as the highest possible score. The test is offered multiple times per year in the United States, and is often taken during a student's junior or senior year of high school.
“We are dedicated to the improvement of our academic performance in all areas,” Aiken County’s school superintendent Dr. Sean Alford commented. “This set of data will enhance our ability to support future Aiken County graduates as they prepare for numerous post-secondary pathways and opportunities.”
The newly released scores are the results of testing during the 2017-18 school year.
THE ACT – 2018 STATE/ACPSD COMPARISON SCORES
|
SUBJECT/COMPOSITE |
SC Public Schools 2018 |
ACPSD 2018 |
|
Composite Score |
18.0 |
18.1 |
|
English |
16.9 |
16.8 |
|
Math |
18.0 |
18.3 |
|
Reading |
18.4 |
18.6 |
|
Science |
18.3 |
18.4 |
ACT SCORES
Aiken County Public School graduates in the Class of 2018 outperformed state public school graduates in math, reading and science, and fell short of state public school scores in English by a tenth of a percentage point. However, year-to-year performance fell slightly in three of four subject areas as scores for the Class of 2018 dropped just below the performance of members of the Class of 2017.
THE ACT – 2017/2018 ACPSD COMPARISON SCORES
|
SUBJECT AREA/COMPOSITE |
ACPSD 2017 |
ACPSD 2018 |
|
Composite Score |
18.4 |
18.1 |
|
English |
16.8 |
16.8 |
|
Math |
18.6 |
18.3 |
|
Reading |
18.8 |
18.6 |
|
Science |
18.8 |
18.4 |
In individual school performance, Class of 2018 graduates at Ridge Spring-Monetta High School outperformed their colleagues in the Class of 2017 by increasing the school’s ACT composite score from 15.7 to 16.1, marking three consecutive years of continued growth for the Trojans on the ACT assessment.
THE ACT – 2017/2018 ACPSD SCHOOL COMPARISON SCORES
|
Subject |
English |
Math |
Reading |
Science |
Composite |
|||||
|
School |
2017 |
2018 |
2017 |
2018 |
2017 |
2018 |
2017 |
2018 |
2017 |
2018 |
|
SBHS |
15.2 |
14.9 |
17.7 |
17.6 |
17.8 |
17.0 |
17.9 |
17.0 |
17.2 |
16.7 |
|
AHS |
17.2 |
17.3 |
18.8 |
18.4 |
18.5 |
18.8 |
19.0 |
18.8 |
18.5 |
18.4 |
|
SAHS |
18.0 |
18.2 |
19.9 |
19.7 |
20.2 |
20.0 |
19.8 |
19.5 |
19.6 |
19.5 |
|
MVHS |
16.2 |
16.4 |
18.3 |
17.7 |
18.0 |
18.2 |
18.1 |
17.7 |
17.8 |
17.6 |
|
NAHS |
17.4 |
17.1 |
18.9 |
18.3 |
19.2 |
18.9 |
19.3 |
18.7 |
18.8 |
18.4 |
|
WSHS |
15.6 |
14.5 |
16.5 |
15.6 |
18.5 |
16.1 |
18.3 |
16.6 |
17.3 |
15.9 |
|
RSMHS |
13.4 |
14.4 |
15.9 |
16.2 |
16.9 |
16.2 |
16.3 |
17.0 |
15.7 |
16.1 |
Across South Carolina, graduates meeting College Readiness benchmarks dropped in all areas. In Aiken County, students meeting College Readiness benchmarks remained the same in English and Reading while dropping slightly in Math and Science. Most ACPSD high schools saw lower ACT composite scores in 2018, mirroring a downward trend in composite scores at both the national and state levels.
“While we are pleased our graduates in the Class of 2018 were able to outperform state public school graduates on the ACT assessment, we remain focused on increasing our year-to-year performance and setting an upward trend in ACT scores for all future graduates,” Chief Officer of Instruction Jeanie Glover stated.
SCHOOL ABBREVIATIONS: SBHS (Silver Bluff High School); AHS (Aiken High School); SAHS (South Aiken High School); MVHS (Midland Valley High School); NAHS (North Augusta High School); WSHS (Wagener-Salley High School); RSMHS (Ridge Spring-Monetta High School).
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LINK TO DISTRICT PRESS RELEASE: 2018 ACPSD DATA RELEASE ACT