BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The average score of Louisiana’s high school seniors on the ACT college readiness test fell for a fourth year in a row and remains among the lowest in the nation.
The state’s composite score on the ACT exam that measures skills in English, reading, math and science was 18.4 out of a possible 36, down from 18.7 last year. The Advocate reports that only Mississippi, Nevada and Hawaii scored lower.
The national average is 20.3, a decline from 20.6 last year and the lowest average score in more than a decade.
Only 20% of test takers in Louisiana met the national benchmarks in math and 23% in science, according to the results. In reading, 31% met the national standards and 48% in English.
In Louisiana, 98% of high school seniors took the test, among the highest rates in the nation. Education leaders often suggest the state should only be compared to others with similar test-taking rates. By that benchmark, Louisiana ranks 13th of 15 states where 75% or more students took the ACT.
