Strong schools, strong Washington

A new school year is around the corner, and recent test results are paving the way to a good start.

Today’s release of ACT exam scores shows Washington students continue, for the eighth straight year, to score far above the national average. With more than an average composite score of 22.8 percent, Washington students in the class of 2011 finished with the ninth highest composite score in the nation. One out of every five Washington 12th graders (13,677) took the ACT in the 2010-11 school year, a record for ACT participation in this state. Click here to read more.

Additionally, given this year’s release of SAT scores and Advanced Placement participation rates, Washington students appear to have a leg up on the rest of the country. Washington students have led the nation in average SAT scores among states with at least 50 percent participation for the past eight years. Also, 18,296 Washington students (or 28%) in the class of 2010 took at least one AP exam, an increase of nearly 1,061 from the previous year and 4,982 from five years ago. For more information, visit the College Board’s sixth annual AP Report to the Nation. As for higher education, Washington’s public four-year colleges and universities have the best graduation rates in the nation (69.4% compared to the national average of 53.6%).

With some of the world’s best companies and skilled workers, the road to a prosperous future for Washington and its students surely looks promising.

To read this blog post in Spanish, please go here.