Education

Just the Facts: Student Achievement

By George A. Clowes

Published October 1, 2002

Just the Facts: Student Achievement
ACT Scores		SAT Scores				National Assessment of Educational Progress Percent scoring at or above proficient
ACT Average Composite (2002)	% of Grads Tested	% of Grads Tested	Mean Verbal (2002)	Mean Math (2002)	STATE	4th-Grade Reading (1998)	8th-Grade Reading (1998)	4th-Grade Math (2000)	8th-Grade Math (2000)	4th-Grade Science (2000)	8th-Grade Science (2000)
20.8	39	46	504	516	Nation	29	31	25	26	27	30
20.1	71	9	560	559	Alabama	24	21	14	16	22	22
21.3	31	52	516	519	Alaska	–	–	–	–	–	–
21.3	26	36	520	523	Arizona	22	28	17	21	22	24
20.2	72	5	560	556	Arkansas	23	23	13	14	24	23
21.4	13	52	496	517	California	20	22	15	18	14	15
20.1	99	28	543	548	Colorado	34	30	–	–	–	–
21.6	5	83	509	509	Connecticut	46	42	32	34	35	35
21.3	4	69	502	500	Delaware	25	25	–	–	–	–
20.4	39	57	496	499	Florida	23	23	–	–	–	–
19.8	20	65	489	491	Georgia	24	25	18	19	24	23
22.0	18	53	488	520	Hawaii	17	19	14	16	16	15
21.2	57	18	539	541	Idaho	–	–	21	27	31	38
20.1	99	11	578	596	Illinois	–	–	21	27	31	30
21.5	19	62	498	503	Indiana	–	–	31	31	22	35
22.0	66	5	591	602	Iowa	35	–	28	–	38	–
21.6	76	9	578	580	Kansas	34	35	30	34	–	–
20.0	72	12	550	552	Kentucky	29	29	17	21	29	29
19.6	79	8	561	559	Louisiana	19	18	14	12	19	18
22.5	6	69	503	502	Maine	36	42	25	32	38	37
20.4	11	67	507	513	Maryland	29	31	22	29	26	28
21.9	8	81	512	516	Massachusetts	37	36	33	32	43	42
21.3	68	11	558	572	Michigan	28	–	29	28	33	37
22.1	65	10	581	591	Minnesota	36	37	34	40	35	42
18.6	84	4	559	547	Mississippi	18	19	9	8	14	15
21.5	68	8	574	580	Missouri	29	29	23	22	35	36
21.7	52	23	541	547	Montana	37	38	25	37	38	46
21.7	72	8	561	570	Nebraska	–	–	24	31	26	36
21.3	36	34	509	518	Nevada	21	24	16	20	20	23
22.0	7	73	519	519	New Hampshire	38	–	–	–	–	–
20.7	5	82	498	513	New Jersey	–	–	–	–	–	–
20.0	63	14	551	543	New Mexico	22	24	12	13	18	20
22.2	14	79	494	506	New York	29	34	22	26	26	30
19.9	13	67	493	505	North Carolina	28	31	28	30	24	27
21.2	78	4	597	610	North Dakota	–	–	25	31	37	40
21.4	62	27	533	540	Ohio	–	–	26	31	32	41
20.5	69	8	565	562	Oklahoma	30	29	16	19	26	26
22.5	12	56	524	528	Oregon	28	33	23	32	28	33
21.5	7	72	498	500	Pennsylvania	–	–	–	–	–	–
21.9	6	73	504	503	Rhode Island	32	30	23	24	26	29
19.2	32	59	488	493	South Carolina	22	22	18	18	20	20
21.4	71	5	576	586	South Dakota	–	–	–	–	–	–
20.0	79	14	562	555	Tennessee	25	26	18	17	26	25
20.1	32	55	491	500	Texas	29	28	27	24	24	23
21.4	66	6	563	559	Utah	28	31	24	26	32	34
22.3	10	69	512	510	Vermont	–	–	29	32	38	40
20.6	11	68	510	506	Virginia	30	33	25	26	33	31
22.3	16	54	525	529	Washington	29	32	–	–	–	–
20.3	61	18	525	515	West Virginia	29	27	18	18	25	26
22.2	68	7	583	599	Wisconsin	34	33	–	–	–	–
21.4	64	11	531	537	Wyoming	30	29	25	25	33	36

17.5	28	76	480	473	Dist. of Columbia	10	12	6	6	–	–
Sources: ACT Average Composite Scores by State, which are copyright 2002 by ACT, Inc., are from the ACT website at http://www.act.org. SAT Scholastic Assessment Test averages by state, which are copyright 2002 by the College Examination Board, are from The College Board website at http://www.collegeboard.com. 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.