OKLAHOMA 'S
AVERAGE ACT SCORE INCREASES WITH CLASS OF 2004;
MINORITY SUBGROUPS' SCORES IMPROVE AND SURPASS NATIONAL AVERAGES
State Superintendent Sandy Garrett said Oklahoma 's average ACT college-entrance exam score increased from 20.5 to 20.6 with the Class of 2004. This year, almost 72 percent of 2004 graduates in Oklahoma took the $28 voluntary test (compared to a projected 40 percent nationally) and maintained the ACT Southwest Region's highest average score. Oklahoma 's average outscored all southern states in which the ACT is the primary college-entrance exam; about half of the states use the SAT as their college-entrance exam.
Garrett said, “ Oklahoma students are making progress in taking the core courses needed to score higher on the ACT and to pursue post-secondary education. However, in order to make more substantial progress, we need to restructure our high school programs to make courses more rigorous and relevant.” Research shows that the rigor of high school courses makes the difference in truly preparing students to succeed.
The subject area with performance farthest from the national average was mathematics. “In order to impact the ACT score, we must see a greater focus on math instruction at every grade level — particularly in high school and especially the senior year,” Garrett said. “Even though there has been a significant increase in the mathematics subscore since Oklahoma 's major reform effort of 1990, math remains our greatest challenge.”
Oklahoma 's major minority groups improved their subgroups' scores and performed better than their peers nationally in 2004. Oklahoma 's largest minority subgroup in terms of student population is Native American, comprising 12 percent of Oklahoma students taking the ACT.
“Not only did Oklahoma 's Native American students improve their scores 0.2 points to 19.6, they significantly outscored Native American students taking the test across the nation (18.8),” Garrett said. “In fact, ACT officials report to us that Oklahoma 's Native American students comprise one-quarter of the Native American students tested nationally and are, in large part, responsible for the gains in average ACT score for Native American students nationwide.”
Garrett said she continues to be concerned about low African American/Black students' average scores in Oklahoma (17.3) but that the score for Black students nationally (17.1) is even lower. While Black students made up 7 percent of the ACT-tested population in 2004, Hispanic students comprised 3 percent and Asian students 2 percent. Hispanic students' scores increased 0.3 to 19.1 and Asian students' scores increased 0.4 to 21.9.
FOLLOWING: Graphs comparing Oklahoma’s performance on the ACT.
