drusba

ACT has issued its annual report on 2006 high school graduates: http://www.act.org/news/data/06/index.html
Data is based on those high school graduates and any tests they took during high school. Some points of interest:

1. Average ACT score was 21.1 nationwide, up .2 from last couple of years. Of states where the ACT test is the one taken by majority of students, Minnesota had the highest average ACT composite of 22.3.

2. 1,206,455 2006 graduating seniors took the test, up about 20,000 from 2005 and the highest ever for the ACT, and gains came mainly from eastern states where more are taking the ACT in addition to the SAT.

3. 216 scored a composite 36 (up from 193 from 2005 but percentage-wise about the same).

4. Only 6% said they intended to major in engineering or computer science, down 2% from last year and the lowest percentage since ACT started tracking the numbers. (Did all the "outsourcing" news have an impact?) Health sciences was the highest designated major area, 18%, the continuation of a trend there.

5. About 1/3 took the writing test and the average score was 7.7 (out of 12). Women averaged better on the writing test than men (7.9 to 7.4).

6. 21% were deemed college ready in all areas (this depends on a "benchmark" score for each of the sections), but it was actually a tad higher than before.