Education

Just the Facts: Student Achievement

By George A. Clowes

Published October 1, 2003

Just The Facts: Student Achievement
						National Assessment of Eduational Progress Tests
ACT Scores		SAT Scores				Percent of public school students scoring at or above proficient
ACT Average Composite (2003)	% of HS Grads Tested	% of HS Grads Tested	Mean Verbal (2003)	Mean Math (2003)	State	4th-Grade Reading (2002)	8th-Grade Reading (2002)	4th-Grade Math (2000)	8th-Grade Math (2000)	4th-Grade Writing (2002)	8th-Grade Writing (2002)
20.8	40	48	507	519	Nation	30	31	25	26	27	30
20.1	73	10	559	552	Alabama	22	21	14	16	15	20
21.1	32	55	518	518	Alaska	–	–	–	–	–	–
21.4	27	38	524	525	Arizona	22	23	17	21	15	20
20.3	73	6	564	554	Arkansas	26	27	13	14	19	19
21.5	15	54	499	519	California	21	20	15	18	23	23
20.1	100	27	551	553	Colorado	–	–	–	–	–	–
22.1	7	84	512	514	Connecticut	43	37	32	34	49	45
20.8	5	73	501	501	Delaware	35	33	–	–	35	35
20.5	41	61	498	498	Florida	27	29	–	–	33	32
19.8	22	66	493	491	Georgia	28	26	18	19	23	25
21.8	16	54	486	516	Hawaii	21	20	14	16	22	18
21.2	60	18	540	540	Idaho	32	34	21	27	22	29
20.2	100	11	583	596	Illinois	–	–	21	27	–	–
21.6	21	63	500	504	Indiana	33	32	31	31	26	26
22.0	66	5	586	597	Iowa	35	–	28	–	27	–
21.5	76	9	578	582	Kansas	34	38	30	34	21	32
20.2	73	13	554	552	Kentucky	30	32	17	21	27	25
19.6	80	8	563	559	Louisiana	20	22	14	12	14	18
22.5	7	70	503	501	Maine	35	38	25	32	32	36
20.7	12	68	509	515	Maryland	30	32	22	29	30	35
22.3	10	82	516	522	Massachusetts	47	39	33	32	44	42
21.3	69	11	564	576	Michigan	30	32	29	28	19	24
22.0	67	10	582	591	Minnesota	37	–	34	40	29	–
18.7	88	4	565	551	Mississippi	16	20	9	8	13	13
21.4	69	8	582	583	Missouri	32	33	23	22	22	27
21.7	52	26	538	543	Montana	36	37	25	37	22	29
21.7	73	8	573	578	Nebraska	34	36	24	31	27	32
21.3	34	36	510	517	Nevada	21	19	16	20	18	16
22.2	8	75	522	521	New Hampshire	–	–	–	–	–	–
21.2	6	85	501	515	New Jersey	–	–	–	–	–	–
19.9	62	14	548	540	New Mexico	21	20	12	13	18	18
22.3	15	82	496	510	New York	35	32	22	26	37	30
19.9	15	68	495	506	North Carolina	32	32	28	30	32	34
21.3	80	4	602	613	North Dakota	34	35	25	31	20	24
21.4	64	28	536	541	Ohio	34	35	26	31	28	38
20.5	69	8	569	562	Oklahoma	26	28	16	19	16	27
22.6	12	57	526	527	Oregon	31	37	23	32	22	33
21.5	8	73	500	502	Pennsylvania	34	35	–	–	29	32
21.7	6	74	502	504	Rhode Island	32	30	23	24	30	29
19.2	34	59	493	496	South Carolina	26	24	18	18	17	20
21.4	70	4	588	588	South Dakota	–	–	–	–	–	–
20.4	74	14	568	560	Tennessee	25	28	18	17	23	24
20.1	33	57	493	500	Texas	28	31	27	24	29	31
21.3	67	7	566	559	Utah	33	32	24	26	20	23
22.5	11	70	515	512	Vermont	39	40	29	32	32	41
20.6	12	71	514	510	Virginia	37	37	25	26	29	32
22.5	16	56	530	532	Washington	35	37	–	–	30	34
20.3	63	20	522	510	West Virginia	28	29	18	18	19	21
22.2	69	7	585	594	Wisconsin	–	–	–	–	–	–
21.4	62	11	548	549	Wyoming	31	31	25	25	23	28
17.5	30	77	484	474	Dist. of Columbia	10	10	6	6	11	10
Sources: ACT Average Composite Scores by State, which are copyright 2003 by ACT, Inc., are from the ACT Web site at http://www.act.org/news/data/03/states.html SAT Scholastic Assessment Test averages by state, which are copyright 2003 by the College Examination Board, are from The College Board Web site at http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/about/news_info/cbsenior/yr2003/pdf/CBS2003Report.pdf NAEP data are published by the National Center for Education Statistics at the U.S. Department of Education, located at http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/about/state.asp.