Big news in Iowa City this week - The ACT scores are in and Iowa came in 2nd in the nation again, with most area high schools in Iowa City scoring higher than the state average of 22.4.
West High School beat it's own record this year with an average of 25.8 out of a possible 36. City High's average was 24.8 with the Regina Catholic Education Center at 23.8. Visit the Press Citizen website for scores for other high schools in the area.
This is pretty important information for you if you're moving to the area. The ACT is an important measure of how well students are doing when it comes to being college ready after graduating from high school and is used by many colleges and universities in the decision making process with scholarships and to determine admission.
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The good news is that on the whole Iowa City is performing very well. Iowa City is one of the most educated cities in the country so that really shouldn't be such a surprise. The University of Iowa is right here - ACT even has its headquarters here! In other words, education is a pretty important topic around here.
No reason to get complacent about these ACT scores though. Looking at Iowa as a whole, 70% of students still didn't manage to meet all four benchmarks for college readiness as required by ACT. Although that's still better than the rest of the country, nationally the number of students not meeting all four benchmarks was 77%. This might be a good place to mention that the the subjects tested in separate exams are English, Reading, Math and Science.
On the up side, more students in Iowa are concentrating on the core subjects, with 78% of students taking at least 3 years of math, science, social studies and 4 years of English, in comparison to 69% last year. That number is likely to get even better in the next couple of years as more students concentrate on the core subjects. Starting in 2011 the model of 3 years of math, science and social studies and 4 years of English will be a requirement for all graduating students.
The Department of Education Director Judy Jeffrey commented on the importance of measuring the education system by the outcome it produces and pointed out that Iowa continues to lead the nation in graduation rates, ACT scores and SAT scores.
If you're moving to Iowa that's got to make you feel pretty confident about your child's education... And looking at both public high schools in Iowa City with their ACT scores for 2009 quite a bit higher than the state average you can feel even better!
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Congratulations to Iowa and Iowa City, Denise. There's nothing more important than schools to relocating families, unless it's safety. Maryland Schools ranked #1 in the country this year - not on the ACT scores, but according to the Quality Counts Report. I link to my post about that every chance I get (since Maryland competes with both Virginia and D.C. for relocating families), and I know you'll link to this post often, I'm sure.
Margaret ~ It's true, schools are pretty much top of the list for families relocating. We're very fortunate in our area to have consistently good results over the years in the both the SAT and ACT. Even better is the fact that schools are adapting to the fact that the sciences need to be a higher priority with a changing world.
I feel comfortable talking to anyone relocating to the area about the quality of our schools and yes I will be linking to this post on occasion I'm sure to make my point!
Denise
I didn't know they even had the ACT still. I think every university out here requires the SAT.
Jim ~ That probably depends where you're located. The University of Iowa definitely takes note of ACT scores, along with the SAT, where Iowa also has a good record.