Wisconsin Students Record Nation's Highest ACT Scores

For the eighth year in a row, Wisconsin students have recorded the nation's highest ACT college entrance exam scores.

“News that Wisconsin is once again first in the nation on the ACT college entrance exam is an unprecedented national achievement,” WEAC President Terry Craney said. “Wisconsin has been number one on this key measure of educational quality for eight years in a row - proof that Wisconsin has one of the best school systems in the country.”

The state’s composite score dropped one-tenth of a point from the prior year to 22.2 but remained two-tenths of a point higher than its closest competitors—Iowa and Minnesota—and tops among states in which 40% or more of graduates took the ACT. The nationwide composite score held steady at 21.0.

Wisconsin retained its first-place ranking even with a record 69% of its graduating seniors taking the test.

Craney said that Wisconsin’s success story is the envy of the nation.

“Much of the credit belongs to teachers and staff in our schools, along with students, families and communities throughout the state.”

Craney warned Wisconsin is in danger of losing its national ranking because of state-imposed barriers to quality education.

“School districts have been forced to make program and service cuts to stay within artificial limits,” he said. “The time will come when there is no place to make cuts, and the quality of education will suffer.”

Craney noted that the ACT measures only a core area of academics. Revenue controls may not have heavily impacted those core areas yet, but they already have forced cuts in other programs such as arts, music and technical education.

Craney added that some of the people responsible for Wisconsin’s academic success are bearing the brunt of the state-imposed limits.

“Teacher compensation has been losing ground in comparison to overall state income,” he said. “Teachers’ average salary as a percent of the state’s median income fell more than 12% between 1986 and 1998; and teachers’ average salary as a percent of per-capita income dropped more than 36%.

"Members of the public, whether they have children in school or not, have a stake in their public schools. We are asking Wisconsinites to get involved in their public schools and help create a vision of what makes their schools great. Once that vision is created, we hope citizens and elected officials will provide the support needed to make those visions a reality.”