Oxford High School Students Continue Trend of High ACT Scores

The latest ACT Score Report shows that Oxford High School students who have graduated, and who took the ACT while in high school, continue to perform at the top level among their peers on the national college entrance exam. 

 

In 2017, 295 Oxford High School seniors took the ACT and overall had a composite score of 22.4, a higher composite score than the state’s 2017 composite score of 18.6.  The 2017 ACT Score Report shows a five-year trend reflecting the achievement of Oxford High School graduates on the ACT over time, indicating that they continue to be prepared for college-level work. The ACT consists of curriculum-based tests of education development in English, mathematics, reading and science and is designed to measure the skills needed for success in first-year college coursework.

 

The five-year trend for the average ACT scores for Oxford High School students show: 

 

 

“It is great to see the increased number of students who took the ACT and to see that they increased their composite scores from previous years’ results is all the better,” said Oxford School District Superintendent Brian Harvey. “The credit of this good news belongs to the students, parents and teachers of the Oxford School District.”

 

The ACT has established college-readiness benchmark scores for designated college courses: a benchmark score on an ACT subject-area test indicates if a high school graduate has a 50 percent chance of obtaining a B or higher or about a 75 percent chance of obtaining a C or higher in the corresponding credit-bearing college courses during their college career. 

 

The 2017 ACT Score Report for Oxford High School shows the percent of ACT-tested students ready for college-level coursework include: 

ACT research has shown that the rigor of coursework — rather than simply the number of core courses — has the greatest impact on ACT performance and college readiness. Oxford High School offers 21 Advanced Placement (AP) courses for students to choose from. 

 

The ACT Score Report states that high school students who take challenging math and science courses in high school achieve higher ACT scores in these subject areas. For example, students who take Algebra I, Algebra 2, and Geometry typically achieve higher ACT Mathematics scores than students who take less than three years of mathematics.

 

Oxford High School students who took Algebra 1, Algebra 2, Geometry, Trigonometry and/or Calculus had an average ACT Mathematics score of 27.1, according to the 2017 ACT Report. Also, students who took Algebra 1, Algebra 2, Geometry, Trigonometry or another math-related course had an average ACT Mathematics score of 23.6. 

 

The report also states that high school students who take Biology and Chemistry in combination with Physics typically achieve higher ACT Science scores than students taking less than three years of science courses. According to the 2017 ACT Report, Oxford High School students who took Biology, Chemistry and Physics scored an average ACT Science score of 27.9. Students who took less than three years of science had an average ACT Science score of 21.

 

“Our district’s goal is college readiness for all,” said Harvey. “Our action plan for our district is to establish high expectations for all students, offer a rigorous curriculum, provide student counseling where needed and to actively measure and evaluate each student’s academic progress early and often throughout their academic journey in our school district.”

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Courtesy of Kelly Graeber/Oxford School District