Weakley County has once again exceeded state norms on ACT participation and scoring.
The statewide numbers announced Monday reveal that Tennessee’s 2019 graduating class earned an average composite score of 20 and had a 98 percent participation rate, an all-time high in the state. Of those students, 41.7 percent earned a score of 21 or higher, making them eligible for the HOPE scholarship.
Weakley County Schools Communications Director Karen Campbell says in Weakley County, 99% of the total senior class took the college entry exam, and accumulated a composite score of 21.0. Such high marks placed the county 20th out of the total 127 districts in composite scoring and 13th in the percentage of students who scored 21 and above – 54.7% of Weakley County students reached that pivotal HOPE scholarship eligibility level.
The class of 2019 was the third cohort to have access to a free opportunity to retake the ACT.
With the changes to the ACT test nationwide, these scores will likely be the last at this level, explained Betsi Foster, Weakley County Schools’ director of federal programs.
“ACT plans to introduce three new options to improve students’ test-taking experience and increase their opportunities for college admissions and scholarships in September 2020,” she noted. “Students who have taken the ACT will have the option to retake individual sections of the ACT test instead of the entire exam and those who take the test more than once will be provided an ACT ‘superscore’ that calculates their highest possible ACT composite score.”
Next year students will also have the choice of taking the ACT online, with faster test results, on national test dates.
