CMS scores on ACT show gains in science and math
Number of students in district who take the ACT also increases
Average scores on the ACT, a test
used to assess college readiness,
showed a significant gain in science
and a slight increase in math for
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools,
according to 2016 results released
Aug. 24. The district’s average
score in English held steady while
reading decreased by one-tenth of
a point.
The five schools in CMS with the highest average ACT scores in each area are:
verage ACT Scale Scores
A
School
English
Mathematics Reading
Science
Composite
Providence High 24.3 24.9 24.9 23.9 24.6
Levine Middle College High 24.0
23.0
24.8
23.3
23.9
Myers Park High
22.9
23.0
24.1
22.8
23.3
Ardrey Kell High
22.2
24.0
23.6
22.9
23.3
21.5
21.9
22.6
21.9
22.1
Hough High
North Carolina is one of 16 states
requiring all high school juniors to
take the test. In 2011, the test was incorporated into the statewide accountability
model. In 2016, 8,744 graduating seniors in CMS had taken the ACT, an increase of
427 students over the prior year.
“The ACT test is an important way to assess how we are preparing students for
college,” said Ann Clark, superintendent of CMS. “It’s also important that every
student take it because it increases access to and the possibility of college for all
students. We want to see greater improvement in all ACT-tested areas and we’ll work
to achieve that.”
The ACT measures college readiness in English, math, reading, science and writing.
It compares individual student scores to specific college benchmarks that ACT has
identified as predictors of first-year performance in college. The college benchmark
scores are: 18 in English, 22 in reading and math, and 23 in science. The benchmark
score is the minimum score a student must earn for a 75 percent chance of a C or
better and a 50 percent chance of a B or better in a college course in each subject.
For 2016, the district’s average ACT scores were 17.6 in English, 19.4 in math, 19.2
in reading and 19.0 in science. The composite score – the average for all four subjects
-- was 18.9 for CMS and 19.1 for the
state. Average scores in CMS were twotenths of a point below the state average
scores in English and science, threetenths of a point below in reading and the
same as the state average in math.
Nineteen percent of ACT test takers
at CMS met all four college readiness
benchmark scores, compared to 18
percent for the state and 26 percent for
the nation.
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“Meeting all four benchmarks is a very high standard,” said Dr. Frank Barnes, CMS
chief accountability officer. “Only one in four students across the nation achieve this
standard. At CMS, one in five students met it. We know we have more to do and we
will continue our work to improve academic outcomes for all students.”
When specific groups of students are compared, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools
results also mirror those of the state and nation. Asian and white students have
consistently scored highest on the ACT since 2012. The CMS composite mean score
in 2016 for white students was 23.4 (an increase of 0.4 points over 2015), Asian
students 20.9 (no change), Hispanic students 17.6 (an increase of 0.2 points) and
African-American students 16.2 (down 0.1 point).
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Parent Teacher News • September/October 2016 • 3