Bradley junior Halley Carden, right, receives an ACT reference book from veteran English teacher Karen McGough during an after school help session Wednesday. It was Halley’s first day to attend strategy class.At a time when educators and business leaders are calling for graduates to be better prepared for life after high school, the ACT scores at 26 of 31 regional high schools went down in 2010, records show.
The average decline of about one point in Southeast Tennessee high schools mirrors the decline at the state level. The top ACT score is 36. The region’s average in 2010 was 18.4, about one point behind the state average of 19.6.
“It’s a state trend, and it’s beyond a concern, it’s a focus,” said Robert Sharpe, secondary schools director for Hamilton County Schools.
Generally accepted as a standard national barometer of what students have learned in high school and what they’re prepared to learn in college, there has been an increased focus on the ACT in states such as Tennessee, which has intensified academic standards in recent years.
When 11th-graders take the test in March, it will be the third year the state has required all juniors to take the test.