The 1998 ACT High School Profile Report — National Data

Summary

The table below compares average ACT scores for students who reported the recommended core, or college-preparatory, curriculum with those who did not. Please note that state departments of education may have different definitions of the college preparatory courses and may therefore publish reports showing slightly different data.

	Those with Core or More						Those with Less than Core
Reference Year	Number	Eng	Math	Rdng	Sci	Comp.	Number	Eng	Math	Rdng	Sci	Comp.
1993-94	478885	21.5	21.5	22.5	22.1	22.0	359974	18.6	18.3	19.6	19.5	19.1
1994-95	529146	21.4	21.5	22.4	22.0	22.0	360925	18.5	18.3	19.6	19.5	19.1
1995-96	542136	21.5	21.5	22.5	22.1	22.0	354733	18.6	18.4	19.7	19.6	19.2
1996-97	566141	21.5	21.8	22.5	22.1	22.1	361947	18.6	18.7	19.7	19.6	19.3
1997-98	606406	21.5	22.0	22.4	22.0	22.1	354306	18.6	18.9	19.7	19.6	19.3

Summary statistics for all ACT-tested graduates on all five scores.

Reference Year	Number	English	Mathematics	Reading	Science Reasoning	Composite
1993-94	891714	20.3	20.2	21.2	20.9	20.8
1994-95	945369	20.2	20.2	21.3	21.0	20.8
1995-96	924663	20.3	20.2	21.3	21.1	20.9
1996-97	959301	20.3	20.6	21.3	21.1	21.0
1997-98	995039	20.4	20.8	21.4	21.1	21.0

Quartile values for all 1998 ACT-tested graduates on all five scores.

Quartile*	English	Mathematics	Reading	Science Reasoning	Composite
Q3 (75th percentile)	24.3	24.5	25.4	24.1	24.3
Q2 (50th percentile - median)	20.1	19.8	21.1	20.8	20.7
Q1 (25th percentile)	16.5	16.8	16.9	17.8	17.5

* The quartile values are interpolated and are based upon calculated student percentile ranks that may differ from the cumulative percentages reported in the frequency distribution tables in the High School Profile Report.

Return to the Selections from the 1998 High School Profile Report