By RANDY TATANO
Special to Atmore News
Numbers are very significant for a high school student taking the ACT. And they’ve gone up for high school students in the Escambia County system.
Some numbers are known as a “benchmark” score of the ACT. And they are more than just numbers. They signify a student has achieved a “credential.”
A different benchmark is set for obtaining a credential and is part of the College Readiness score for accountability. These are called ACT College Readiness Benchmarks. The benchmarks scores are as follows:
English – 18
Reading – 22
ELA – 20 (ELA is a combination of Reading, English, and Writing
Mathematics – 22
Science – 23
STEM – 26
Escambia County Assistant Superintendent George Brown explained the importance of hitting these goals. “Obtaining a credential means that a student is college and / or career ready. Students certainly become a better candidate to be hired for prospective jobs when they have received their credential.”
While the scores have not been released yet, Brown said, “Our students countywide made huge improvements compared to last year. Our secondary supervisor Jason Weeks and ACT bootcamp teacher Scott Hammond and Teresa Hultz, along with our school administrators really did a great job pushing our students countywide to prioritize this and put their best step forward.”
Superintendent Michele McClung was thrilled with the results.
“I am very proud of our juniors this year as it is evident they took the ACT seriously and worked hard to prepare for it all year long! We celebrated those who benchmarked in both math and ELA on the ACT (with the writing component) by placing congratulatory signs in the students’ yards. We want our community to know our public schools are producing proficient students who are career and /or college ready!”
Brewton resident Randy Tatano is a veteran TV news reporter and network producer, and is currently a novelist and freelance writer for the Escambia County School System.