ACT® results for Missouri’s graduating class of 2016 are now available. For the first time, the results reflect the performance of an entire senior class, resulting in a new baseline for the state. Therefore, the latest results cannot be compared with previous years. In 2015, Missouri began offering a one-time administration of the ACT® to all 11^th graders in the state at no cost to the student. Those students’ scores are included in the ACT® data released today. Missouri students’ participation in the years just prior to 2015 included 71 percent to 77 percent of the graduating class.

Nationally, 64 percent of all 2016 high school graduates took the ACT®, with a national composite score of 20.8. The composite score is the average of the most recent ACT® scores of all graduates.

The composite score for the Missouri class of 2016 is 20.2. Following are the composite scores in states that tested 100 percent of graduating students from highest composite score to lowest composite score:

Minnesota – 21.1

Illinois – 20.8

Colorado – 20.6

Wisconsin – 20.5

Michigan – 20.3

North Dakota – 20.3

Montana – 20.3

Missouri – 20.2

Utah – 20.2

Kentucky – 20.0

Wyoming – 20.0

Tennessee – 19.9

Louisiana – 19.5

Alabama – 19.1

North Carolina – 19.1

South Carolina – 18.5

Mississippi – 18.4

Nevada – 17.7

Missouri uses the ACT® as one of its measures of college and career readiness. One of the primary goals of Missouri’s Top 10 by 20 campaign is for every Missouri student to graduate high school ready for college and career.