Kentucky’s non-public school ACT performance in 2018 — The Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions

Reports from the ACT, Inc. and the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) give us information about how all Kentucky students averaged together and just Kentucky’s public school students alone perform on the ACT college entrance test. However, there are no agencies reporting about ACT scores for those Kentucky students who didn’t go to public schools. Fortunately, using the data from the ACT, Inc. and the KDE, it is possible to calculate the average ACT scores for those non-public schoolers, which includes private school and home school students.

Here is how this works out. Figure 1 shows the calculated scores by year for the Bluegrass State’s non-public school high school graduates of 2018.

Figure 1

As you can see, the non-public school graduates saw some interesting changes in 2018. The ACT English Score rose nearly a full point while the math score held steady. Reading jumped up a full point, as well. The only drop was in science, which saw a decay of 0.3 point. Overall, the ACT Composite dropped very slightly by 0.1 point. This was accompanied by a 10.6 percent increase in the non-public school test takers in 2018 (up from 4,363 in 2017 to 4,826 in 2018).By the way, it seems odd that the non-public subject scores either increased rather notably or stayed constant for every area but science, yet the Composite dropped by 0.1 point. I think ACT might use some weighting in computing the Composite score, which could explain that, but I have not seen any discussions of this possibility and am checking further.

Now, Figure 2 shows how Kentucky’s public school students performed over time.

Figure 2

Scores rose in all subjects but science and the ACT Composite also rose by 0.2 point. That is good news for the high school Class of 2018, but trouble may be coming next year because the KDE earlier reported (See Appendix A in this Briefing Packet) that testing of Kentucky’s 11th graders in 2018 saw drops in ACT scores for all four academic areas and also for the ACT Composite, which dropped rather notably from 19.8 to 19.3. In fact, the 2017-2018 juniors’ scores for ACT English and Reading are the lowest since 2014-15, while for ACT Math, Science and the Composite, scores are the lowest since at least 2013-14.So, trouble seems to be brewing for the Kentucky public high school Class of 2019.It is also obvious that the non-public school graduates in 2018 scored notably higher in all areas on the ACT than the public school grads did. Keep in mind that the ACT is scored on only a 36-point scale, so a difference of just a few points is actually a fairly big difference.

Finally, for those who might be interested, Figure 3 shows the overall scores for all Kentucky students, private, public and home school, all averaged together.

Figure 3

Some of the contributions of the non-public school graduates to the 2018 all student results are interesting. For example, the public school only English ACT rose from 19.2 to 19.4 between 2017 and 2018 – a change of 0.2 point – but the overall average jumped up by 0.3 point. The public school reading changes were similar, increasing 0.2 point while the overall student average when up 0.3 point. The extra push in the score changes for all students obviously came from the non-public graduates.

Notes:

Kentucky started testing all 11th grade students with the ACT in 2008. Thus, the Class of 2009 was the first where all graduates had been tested. Before then, taking the ACT was optional and at student expense in Kentucky.

National and Kentucky ACT scores are for "standard time" students only to 2012 and for standard and extended time students for 2013 and later.

ACT allowed calculators on the math test for the first time in 1997. National math score average, which had been increasing at about 0.1 points a year, jumped 0.4 points from 1996 to 1997.Scores for Model Lab for 1999 through 2008 are missing from analysis. Effect would increase public high school test takers by about 40 each year and would not impact scores significantly.

Formulas Used:

Other Than Public School Graduates = (All Graduates) - (Public School Graduates)Non-Public School Average ACT Score = {(Number of All Grads) * (All Grads Score) - (Number of Public Grads) * (Public Grads Score)} / (Number of Non-Public Students)Data Sources:

Analysis of: ACT Kentucky Public High School Data Disk, 1997

Analysis of: ACT Kentucky Public High School Data Disk, 1998

Analysis of: ACT Kentucky Public High School Data Disk, 1999

Analysis of: ACT Kentucky Public High School Data Disk, 2000

Analysis of: ACT Kentucky Public High School Data Disk, 2001

Analysis of: ACT Kentucky Public High School Data Disk, 2002

Analysis of: ACT Kentucky Public High School Data Disk, 2003

Analysis of: ACT Kentucky Public High School Data Disk, 2004

Analysis of: ACT Kentucky Public High School Data Disk, 2005

Analysis of: ACT Kentucky Public High School Data Disk, 2006

Analysis of: ACT Kentucky Public High School Data Disk, 2007

Analysis of: ACT Kentucky Public High School Data Disk, 2008

The data disks cited above were annually assembled for the Kentucky Office of Education Accountability by the ACT, Inc.

KDE News Release 09-063, 19 Aug 09

KDE News Release 10-044, 18 Aug 10

KDE News Release 11-067, 17 Aug 11

KDE News Release 12-056, 22 Aug 12

KDE News Release 16-092, August 24, 2016 (covers 2013 to 2016 data)

KDE News Release 17-114, September 6, 2017

KDE News Release 18-163, October 17, 2018

The High School Profile Report, Normative Data, ACT High School Profile Report, H S Graduating Class 1997, St. Composite for Kentucky

The High School Profile Report, Normative Data, ACT High School Profile Report, H S Graduating Class 1998, St. Composite for Kentucky, Code 180-000

The High School Profile Report, Normative Data, ACT High School Profile Report, H S Graduating Class 1999, St. Composite for Kentucky, Code 180-000

The High School Profile Report, Normative Data, ACT High School Profile Report, H S Graduating Class 2000, St. Composite for Kentucky, Code 180-000

The High School Profile Report, Normative Data, ACT High School Profile Report, H S Graduating Class 2001, St. Composite for Kentucky, Code 180-000

The High School Profile Report, Normative Data, ACT High School Profile Report, H S Graduating Class 2002, St. Composite for Kentucky, Code 180-000

The High School Profile Report, Normative Data, ACT High School Profile Report, H S Graduating Class 2003, St. Composite for Kentucky, Code 180-000

The High School Profile Report, Normative Data, ACT High School Profile Report, H S Graduating Class 2004, St. Composite for Kentucky, Code 180-000

The High School Profile Report, Normative Data, ACT High School Profile Report, H S Graduating Class 2005, St. Composite for Kentucky, Code 180-000

ACT High School Profile Report, The Graduating Class 2006, Kentucky

ACT High School Profile Report, The Graduating Class 2007, Kentucky

ACT High School Profile Report, The Graduating Class 2008, Kentucky

ACT High School Profile Report, The Graduating Class 2009, Kentucky

ACT High School Profile Report, The Graduating Class 2010, Kentucky

ACT High School Profile Report, The Graduating Class 2011, Kentucky

ACT High School Profile Report, The Graduating Class 2012, Kentucky

ACT High School Profile Report, The Graduating Class 2013, Kentucky, Standard and Extended Time Students from Tables 2.4 and 2.5

ACT High School Profile Report, The Graduating Class 2014, Kentucky, Standard and Extended Time Students from Tables 2.4 and 2.5

ACT High School Profile Report, The Graduating Class 2015, Kentucky, Standard and Extended Time Students from Tables 2.4 and 2.5

ACT High School Profile Report, The Graduating Class 2016, Kentucky, Standard and Extended Time Students from Tables 2.4 and 2.5

ACT High School Profile Report, The Graduating Class of 2017, Kentucky, Standard and Extended Time Students from Table 2.3

ACT High School Profile Report, The Graduating Class of 2018, Kentucky, Standard and Extended Time Students from Table 2.3