Dalton High School’s ACT composite score is above the national average, recently released results show, and Northwest Whitfield High School in the county system is more than a point above it.
Dalton High School’s composite score for the four-part curriculum exam many colleges use as an admissions requirement is 21.7, above the national average of 21 and the state average of 20.7. A perfect score is 36. The test is designed to measure curriculum knowledge in English, math, reading and science.
“We want all of our students to have the option of college upon graduating from Dalton High,” Dalton High Principal Debbie Freeman said in a statement. “Therefore, we provide application and scholarship assistance, and we continue to encourage all of our seniors to take the ACT and/or SAT tests. In 2010, we had one of our highest participation years for the ACT.” The SAT is another exam used for college admissions.
Some 93 DHS graduates took the ACT last school year compared to 51 students five years ago, Freeman said.
Students at Northwest Whitfield High School scored a composite 22.3 among 102 test-takers, the highest of any school among the three area school districts. The Whitfield Career Academy, with 41 participants, scored the lowest at 16.1.
“ACT scores are a measure of tasks that correspond to high school learning experiences, measuring what students are able to do with what they have learned in school,” said Whitfield County Schools spokesman Eric Beavers. “... Standardized tests are one indicator of how well a student may be prepared for life after graduation. Other variables that cannot be discovered from a number are a student’s commitment to community involvement, their passion for a particular field of study, or their ability to collaborate with others to find success for all.”
Officials said that when fewer students take an exam, the scores are less indicative of how well the school is performing overall.
Cheryl Thomasson, secondary curriculum director for Murray County Schools, said the ACT is “a good achievement test,” but only 62 students took it last year at Murray County High School while most students applying for college took the SAT.
“(The ACT) is an indicator (of how well students are learning the curriculum),” Thomasson said. “It’s a standardized test. If you’re not doing as well as the nation, that tells you they’re lacking on something ... At least it tells us in this case this year we did OK.”
The composite score for Murray students dipped slightly from 20 in 2009 to 19.7 this year, rising slightly only in science from 19.3 to 19.7.
Each local high school except Northwest Whitfield and Southeast had slightly lower math scores in 2010 than the year before. For example, the average math score decreased two-tenths of a percentage point at Dalton High (20.8 in 2010 and 21 in 2009). Freeman said there are currently two sets of math standards taught in Georgia’s schools as the Quality Core Curriculum standards continue through the class of 2011.
“Students in the graduating class of 2012 have experienced the more rigorous, performance-based math standards, implemented through the Georgia Performance Standards (GPS) curriculum, since they were in the sixth grade,” Freeman said.
ACT 2010 scores (2009 scores in parentheses)
Dalton Public Schools (Dalton High School)
English: 21.3 (20.9)
Math: 20.8 (21)
Reading: 22.2 (21.9)
Science: 21.7 (21.6)
Composite: 21.7 (21.5)
Murray County Schools (Murray County High School)
English: 19.2 (19.2)
Math: 19 (19.6)
Reading: 20.3 (21.3)
Science: 19.7 (19.3)
Composite: 19.7 (20)
Whitfield County Schools
English: 19.3 (19.4)
Math: 20.4 (20.7)
Reading: 20.1 (20.9)
Science: 20.1 (20.3)
Composite: 20.1 (20.5)
Northwest Whitfield High School
English: 22.3 (20.7)
Math: 22.2 (21.6)
Reading: 22.4 (21.5)
Science: 21.8 (21.1)
Composite: 22.3 (21.4)
Whitfield Career Academy
English: 14.0 (15.1)
Math: 17.1 (17.4)
Reading: 16.1 (18.2)
Science: 16.6 (18.0)
Composite: 16.1 (17.3)
Southeast High School
English: 18.5 (17.8)
Math: 20.1 (19.8)
Reading 19.6 (19.9)
Science: 20.0 (19.3)
Composite: 19.7 (19.4)
Georgia average
English: 20.1 (20.1)
Math: 20.7 (20.6)
Reading: 20.9 (20.9)
Science: 20.5 (20.3)
Composite: 20.7 (20.6)
National average
English: 20.5 (20.6)
Math: 21.0 (21.0)
Reading: 21.3 (21.4)
Science: 20.9 (20.9)
Composite: 21.0 (21.1)
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