LAPS News:

Each year, ACT provides an analysis of high school graduates college and career readiness. Based upon the report, Los Alamos High School class of 2017 had higher scores than in the past five years, and higher than the state as a whole.

The ACT is a set of curriculum-based tests to measure educational development in English, mathematics, reading, and science, and is used to measure how prepared a student is for the first year of college coursework.

Each section has a benchmark (or the minimum score needed) to indicate that the student will have a 50 percent chance of earning a B or high, and a 75 percent chance of earning a C or higher. The current benchmarks are a score of 18 on the English ACT, 22 on the Mathematics ACT, 22 on the Reading ACT, and 23 on the Science ACT.

The chart below shows how the LAPS District scored compared with the rest of New Mexico:

To view findings in New Mexico and across the country, click here.

Key national findings from this year’s report include:

• Among 2017 graduates, 39 percent met the ACT College Readiness Benchmarks in at least three of the four core subject areas tested (English, math, reading and science), indicating they have strong readiness for college coursework. This is up from 38 percent in 2016.
• The national average ACT Composite score for the 2017 graduating class rose to 21.0 compared to 20.8 last year.

Underserved learners (low-income, minority, and/or first-generation college students) continue to struggle in terms of their achievement levels and readiness for college. Less than a fourth of graduates who qualify as underserved met or surpassed three or four of the ACT College Readiness Benchmarks, as compared to more than half of the ACT-tested graduates who are not underserved.