Thanks to Bethesda magazine for the following story noting that MCPS graduates out perform the state and the nation on the ACT college admissions test. Like public schools across the nation, we continue to face significant challenges to close achievement gaps. But we should not lose sight of what we continue to accomplish.

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MCPS Graduates Outperform State, Nation on ACT Tests

The Class of 2014 also slightly outperformed the two previous graduating classes on the standardized test

Andrew Metcalf

Montgomery County Public Schools graduates outperformed their peers in the state and the nation on ACT college admission tests last school year, according to MCPS.

The Class of 2014 earned an average score of 23.7 out of 36, more than one point higher than the state average of 22.6 and more than two points higher than the 21.0 average in the country.

The score was also a slight improvement over the Class of 2013, which averaged a 23.5, and Class of 2012, which averaged a 23.2.

“MCPS graduates are showing steady improvement on the ACT and are demonstrating increased readiness for college-level work,” MCPS Superintendent Joshua Starr said in a press statement. “This is good news, but we know there is a lot more work to be done to ensure that all of our students are ready for success in postsecondary education and beyond.”

The ACT is similar to the SAT and is used by college admissions officers to evaluate prospective students. It includes four sections—English, math, reading and science—and students receive scores between 0 and 36.

Here’s how MCPS students did on each section:

• 23.4 on English
• 23.8 on math
• 23.8 on reading
• 23.4 on science

A total of 3153 MCPS students took the ACT last school year, accounting for nearly 30 percent of the total number of graduates, according to the school system.