Georgia students top national average on ACT

Caption

Georgia’s Class of 2023 exceeded the national average for the seventh year in a row on the ACT.

Credit: Capitol Beat News Service

ATLANTA — Georgia’s Class of 2023 scored slightly lower on the ACT than last year’s cohort but exceeded the national average for the seventh year in a row.

Georgia students recorded an average composite score of 21.3 on the ACT, down slightly from 21.6 in 2022 but above the national average of 19.6.

“As I’ve had the occasion to say often lately — I’m incredibly proud of the class of 2023,” State School Superintendent Richard Woods said Wednesday. “These students were high-school freshmen when the pandemic closed schools in 2020. Their education was severely impacted by the national crisis, but they have risen above.”

The ACT results came just two weeks after the state Department of Education announced Georgia’s Class of 2023 also bested the national average on the SAT.

Georgia students taking the ACT scored highest in reading, with an average of 22.2. That was followed by an average of 21.2 in science, 20.7 in English, and 20.6 in math. Georgia’s ACT scores in every subject were higher than the national average.

This story comes to Georgia Public Broadcasting through a reporting partnership with Capitol Beat News Service.