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The Minnesota Department of Education announced August 13 that Minnesota students lead the nation on ACT scores with an average composite score of 22.6. The national average score is 21.1% out of a possible 36 points.

The August 13 Star Tribune article, Nice ACT scores, but ready for college? notes that although Minnesota students have top scores, only a third reach the benchmark for college preparedness. And minority students continue to lag with scores more than five points below the average score of white students.

The Minnesota Department of Education announced June 9 that 75 percent of Minnesota 10th-graders met the state’s new, more rigorous, reading graduation requirement. But racial gaps persist and schools seek to help those falling short.
—See MDE press release (PDF); stories appeared in many Minnesota media outlets.

Education Week in its report Diplomas Count 2008, noted that Minnesota’s high school graduation rate was the ninth in the nation in 2005. The state’s rate was 78 percent compared to the national average of 71 percent.
—Media coverage included the Star Tribune’s “Minnesota’s graduation rate is among highest in the United States” and MPR’s “Study: Minn. ranks at bottom for black graduate rate.”

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