Schools

Apple Valley's High Schools Beat State Average ACT Score

Only Apple Valley High School's average ACT score for students in 2011 increased over scores from 2010.

and high schools and the each exceeded the state and national ACT test score averages for high schoolers in 2011, according to a news release from the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan school district.

Apple Valley High School test-takers—mostly juniors and seniors— averaged a composite score of 23.1 out of 36 possible points on the college-entrance exam, which is the favored exam in the Midwest, the release said. Eastview students averaged 23.9, and the School of Environmental Studies was at 23.7.

The state average score this year was 22.9, the same as last year's state average; Minnesota had the highest average score of the 27 states where half the graduates took the test.

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The district average was 24 for the 1,672 students who took the ACT this past year; the national ACT average for 2011 was 21.1.

District 196 has a history of outscoring the state average, Apple Valley High School Principal Steve Degenaar said. The 23.1 score is Apple Valley's second-highest ever, he said.

Find out what's happening in Apple Valley-Rosemountwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The school with the highest average score in the district was Eagan High School, with a 25; Rosemount High School averaged a 23.7.

Apple Valley's average score improved over last year's, which matched the state average at 22.9. The scores for Eastview and the School of Environmental Studies declined slightly from 2010, when they averaged 24.4 and 23.9, respectively.

Degenaar said there aren't necessarily targeted strategies in the school curriculum for ACT test-takers. Rather, the main focus is the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments state standardized tests, he said.

But Apple Valley and other schools do point students who will be taking the ACT to other resources to help prepare, such as classes or online practice tools, he said.

He estimated that half the Apple Valley High School students who take the ACT do some sort of additional prep work.

"We know that we're in the ballpark because our kids are doing quite well on those exams," Degenaar said.


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