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Springfield Public Schools saw an increase in its ACT scores, a college entrance exam that many high school students take. KSMU's Missy Shelton reports.
The ACT Test scores for the 2008 graduating class of Springfield Public Schools saw a slight improvement over the previous year. The district's composite score is more than a full point higher than the state average.
Norm Ridder is Superintendent of Springfield Schools.
The ACT scores come not long after the district received news that it had failed to make adequate yearly progress in math and communication arts. Schools are required to show they're making "adequate yearly progress" under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Ridder says students have no incentive to do well on the state tests used to determine adequate yearly progress...but there is an incentive with the ACT: many universities use ACT scores to help determine whether to admit a student or not. Ridder says he'd like to see the ACT become the standard for measuring student achievement.
Ridder says he's pleased that the district saw an increase in the number of students who took the ACT last school year.