Students surpass average

Decatur students taking college-readiness courses surpass state average on ACT tests.

— High school students in Decatur who take classes that prepare them for college - such as chemistry, physics and algebra - score as well or better on the ACT test as students who takethe same courses at other Arkansas schools, according to recent test results.

“The kids that take our courses under our teachers do better than the statewide average,” said superintendent Larry Ben at the Sept. 19 school board meeting.

The ACT test is a national college admissions and placement examination used to determine a student’s college readiness and is also the test used to determine aschool’s college remediation rate.

2011 ACT test results show that Decatur students who took Algebra I and II, Geometry, Trigonometry and one other math course scored an average composite score of 23 in math on the test while the statewide average for students who took the more difficult courses was 22.1. Students in Decatur who took only Algebra I and II, Geometry and Trigonometry scored an average of 19.5 on the ACTcompared to a statewide average of 19.3.

In science, students who took general science, biology, chemistry and physics scored an average of 22 in science on the ACT compared to an average score of 21.3 for students who took the same courses statewide. However, Decatur’s score was slightly below the state’s average for students who took only general science, biology and chemistry.

The national average composite score for the four areas high school students are tested - English, math, reading and science - is 21.1, according to the ACT testing website www.act.org. The highest possible score is 36.

“The good news is we’re not limiting the kids by them coming here, but the kids are just not choosing to take the harder courses,” said Ben.

The key will be to get more students motivated to take the tougher classes that will better prepare them for college, Ben said.

High school principal Bobby King estimated that 30 to 35 percent of high school students take the more rigorous courses that will prepare them for college. King emphasized that the number was just a guess.

Decatur’s overall test scores may be lower than some other districts because all Decatur juniors take the ACT test through a state-funded program, while other schools only test college-bound students, federal programs coordinator Mitch Wilber explained to the school board.

“All of our students are required to take college-readiness tests but not all of them are taking college-readiness courses,” Smith observed.

News, Pages 1 on 09/28/2011