PRESS RELEASE:
Topic: ACT Testing Information

As part of the Muscatine Community School District’s goal of increasing academic rigor in order to ensure college readiness for all students, Muscatine High School began offering the ACT, a nationally administered standardized test, to all 11^th grade students in the 2014-2015 school year. The ACT is a test that assists colleges in evaluating college readiness in English, Mathematics, Reading, Science and the optional Writing portion.

To further support this goal, the Muscatine Community School District has adopted an ACT Testing sequence in grades 4-11 for the 2016-2017 school year.

Below are current updates of our ACT Testing Progress. These updates represent year 2 of the changes adopted by MCSD to increase academic rigor in order to ensure college readiness for all students.

• Over a 3 year period 300 students in MHS’s class of 2016 took the ACT in comparison to 160 MHS students in the class of 2013

• MHS 2016 Average ACT score for proficient students is 26.2 in comparison to a score of 23.9 in 2013

• As a district, 90% of students who took the ACT are making progress toward Career Readiness based on ACT composite score

Nationwide, an opportunity to improve student college and career readiness (CCR) in Reading, Math and Science is being discussed. ACT research has shown students meeting 3 or more ACT College Readiness Benchmarks are likely to be successful in post secondary education. As noted by the ACT, a great way to improve CCR is for students to take a college preparatory core curriculum, which MHS adopted in the 2014-2015 school year.

Muscatine High School is also increasing college readiness by offering an increased amount of Advanced Placement (AP) courses as well as continuing to offer Concurrent and Post Secondary Enrollment Options (PSEO). MHS is presently offering 20 AP courses compared to 8 courses in 2013. MHS is currently ranked 15^th in the state of Iowa in the number of students taking AP tests. Research shows that students who have completed two or more AP courses increase their chances of attaining a Bachelor’s Degree to 76%. In the 2015-2016 school year, MHS had 641 enrollments in Concurrent/PSEO courses and 778 enrollments in AP courses.

Muscatine Community School District is excited by the current trends in student ACT scores. Implementing a more rigorous core curriculum and offering more college preparatory courses should led to continual growth among our students.

For more information:
Contact: Mr. Michael McGrory, Associate Superintendent