Canton ACT scores improve
CANTON — Canton High students who participated in a new program designed to prepare them for the ACT showed marked improvement over last year's scores, officials announced last week.
In August 2019, Canton was selected as one of 22 Mississippi schools to participate in a test pilot program which provided online classes for juniors preparing for the test.
Jumpstart Test Prep — the company administering the program — published results last week revealing that 54.8 percent of the students who participated in the classes experienced an average composite score improvement of 1.8 points.
Canton students who participated showed the most improvement on the English portion of the test, with 60.65 percent scoring 2.85 points higher, on average.
Analysis of the pilot program results was conducted by a third-party expert.
"During my tenure as principal at CHS, I have faced many challenges, and one of the greatest was advancing the performance of my students on the ACT. This initiative worked and has helped increase our graduation rate. More are also scoring as college- and career-ready."
Last year, Canton students averaged ACT score of 15.9 (out of a possible 36). Results for all 2020 tests among Canton students was not available.
The third-party analyst who completed the survey of scores for Jumpstart program participants was Portland, Ore., data scientist Jake Hoskins, who concluded that the program had a net positive effect for at least 19 of the 22 schools which participated.
"This pilot implementation of the (program) review led to substantial improvements in ACT exam scores," Hoskins said. "Half of the students with previous exam attempts experienced a composite score increase, with an average composite point of gain of +2.12 among those students who did improve. Gains were shared across gender, ethnicity and school quality factors and implementation of the program reduced graduation required subject level course failure risks by 15% to 48%."