Results of the ACT test were released yesterday. North Carolina increased its average score (+.05 to 21) but fell just shy of the national average (21.2).
What is not mentioned in this N&O story, for example, is that the scores include public, home, charter, and private school students, as well as GED students. It is possible that the non-public school crowd is responsible for the increase and/or pulling up lower scoring public school students.
Unfortunately, we will never know what kind of effect non-public school students have on the ACT scores. I was would told by a representative from ACT, Inc. that they do not disaggregate their data according to the type of school the students attends. I cannot remember another time that a major testing and research organization ignores/withholds a major variable like school type.
