The ACT scores for high school students nationwide fell in 2023, while Kentucky high school students posted a slight uptick in scoring. But the average score of Kentucky high school students remains below the national average.
According to the ACT, the average Composite score on the ACT test fell to 19.5 for the class of 2023, a decline of 0.3 points from 2022, according to data released on Wednesday by ACT, the nonprofit organization that administers the college readiness exam.
The non-profit says average scores in mathematics, reading and science subjects were all below the ACT College Readiness Benchmarks for those subjects.
Kentucky’s class of 2023 students posted an average score of 18.7, up one-tenth-of-a-point from 2022’s 18.6 average. Kentucky’s average 2023 score represents the first rise in scores since the beginning of the COVID pandemic in March 2020.
A total of 54 Kentucky high school students recorded perfect 36s.
Kentucky also expanded the number of students taking the ACT in 2023: 50,429 students – 100 percent of the graduating class – took the exam, a 4.5 percent increase from 2022.
“Kentucky has achieved a rare feat: expanding the number of students who take the ACT while also increasing scores from last year,” said Interim Education Commissioner Robin Kinney. “The hard work of our students and educators shows up in many ways, and it’s important to celebrate accomplishments like this when we earn them.”
Of eight states that test 100 percent of their graduates, Kentucky’s average composite score ranked it second behind only Wyoming, a state with 87 percent fewer students tested than Kentucky. The order of the six states finishing below Kentucky were Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama, Oklahoma, Mississippi, and Nevada.
By Ken Howlett, News Director and Tom Latek, Kentucky Today
