Different racial groups continue to score differently on the high school A.C.T. college admission tests in Wisconsin. The percentage of Wisconsin’s ACT takers who were students of color increased 1.1 percent from last year, to 12.8 percent.
White students had a composite score of 22.9, up one-tenth of a point from last year. Native American students had a composite score of 20.7, 2.2 points higher than the national average. Wisconsin’s Asian students had a composite score of 20.3, 3.2 points below the national average. Hispanic students from Wisconsin had a composite score of 19.7, one full point higher than their peers nationally. African American students had a composite score of 16.8, down two-tenths of a point from last year and one-tenth of a point lower than their peers nationally.
The state’s 22.3 composite score on the 2009 ACT college admissions exam report places the state third in the nation. Sixty seven percent of the state’s 2009 graduates took the exam during their high school years, according to the state Department of Public Instruction.