Madison students who took the 2005 ACT college entrance exam continued to outperform their state and national peers. MMSD students’ composite score was slightly higher overall on the ACT compared to a year ago, 24.3 vs. 24.2 (scale of 1 to 36), while the average ACT score this year for Wisconsin students was 22.2 and nationally, 20.9.
Almost 74 percent of the MMSD students in the Class of 2006 took the ACT, a record number. Generally, when more students take the test, scores drop. However, the average MMSD ACT participant scored higher than roughly 72% of all Wisconsin ACT participants and higher than 78% of all ACT participants across the country.
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The average ACT score for Wisconsin was higher than US average, but also note that no further statistics beyond the average is mentioned (see http://www.act.org). A single aggregated number (average) is not useful knowledge.
We need to see real statistics and distribution of scores, etc, and understand them in appropriate context.
Like other statistics or measures that are frequently published (Newsweek rating, the ACT score, the Expansion Magazine rating, average cost per student), each are used by one person or another to make some point which agrees with their preconceived opinions, and those not in agreement are conveniently ignored.
Frankly, all such stats are simply PR, and should be ignored because they really don’t say anything important unless accompanied by context.
Question: Does the District or DPI get the full unaggregated data from the ACT tests. Can we review the real data to understand the scores? Are these results entered into the District’s school data warehouse? How does this data relate to other District measures of student achievement. Are they positively correlated?