Alpine School District - Research and Evaluation

American College Test (ACT)

The ACT is the college entrance examination required by most colleges and universities in the western United States.A large percentage of Alpine seniors and juniors take the exam each year.The test provides another measure of student performance in addition to the norm-referenced Stanford 9 Achievement Test and the curriculum-referenced Utah Core Assessment (UCA).This is a report of students who graduated from high school in 2000 and took the ACT when they were juniors or seniors.

Participation

A total of 2,304 Alpine students who graduated in 2000 took the exam, which is 70% of the graduation class and an increase of 5% over 1999 participation.In Utah, 69% of the 2000 graduation class took the ACT.

2000 Scores

ACT exams are scored from 1 to 36.Students are given a score for four separate subject areas: English, Math, Science and Reading and a composite score for the total test.The graph shows 2000 ACT scores for Alpine, Utah and the U.S.Alpine School District scored higher than the state and the nation in all areas.

Five-Year History

Alpine School District ACT scores declined slightly for the third year in a row.State Scores increased slightly while the nation’s scores remained constant.It is important to note Alpine 2000 scores reflect a five percent increase in student participation.

ACT Scores 1996-2000

		1996	1997	1998	1999	2000
English	Alpine	21.3	21.8	21.5	21.3	21.1
	Utah	21.0	21.1	21.1	21.0	21.0
	U.S.	20.3	20.3	20.4	20.5	20.5
Math	Alpine	20.5	21.2	21.3	21.2	21.1
	Utah	20.3	20.8	21.0	20.7	20.9
	U.S.	20.2	20.6	20.8	20.7	20.7
Reading	Alpine	22.6	22.8	22.7	22.5	22.2
	Utah	22.0	22.0	22.1	22.0	22.0
	U.S.	21.3	21.3	21.4	21.4	21.4
Science	Alpine	21.1	22.2	22.1	21.8	21.7
	Utah	21.7	21.6	21.7	21.3	21.5
	U.S.	21.0	21.1	21.1	21.0	21.0
Total	Alpine	21.7	22.1	22.0	21.8	21.6
	Utah	21.4	21.5	21.6	21.4	21.5
	U.S.	20.9	21.0	21.0	21.0	21.0

Core Preparation ACTdefines “Core” as the completion of the following courses.Students not completing these requirements are defined as “Less”:

English:four or more years
Mathematics:three or more years
Social Studies:three or more years
Natural Science:three or more years

Alpine School District Core students scored significantly higher in all areas.This is consistent with performance of students in Utah and the U.S. The percentage of Alpine students taking the Core has increased from 28% in 1995 to 37% in 2000.

Gender Scores

Alpine males scored higher than females in all areas except English.This is consistent with scoring patterns in Utah and the U.S. except in the area of reading where females in Utah scored the same as males and females in the nation scored slightly better.In 1999 Alpine females scored better than males in reading.In 2000 their score dropped while the males’ score stayed the same.

Both Alpine females and males scored the same or higher than their counterparts in the state and the U.S.

Student Opinions

Percentages of student satisfaction/dissatisfaction with each of 11 areas of concern are collected on the ACT Student Profile Form.As they have for several years, Alpine District students express more satisfaction overall than either their Utah or U.S. peers.

STUDENT OPINIONS

Student Satisfaction	Alpine	Utah	Nation
Classroom instruction	92	90	89
Variety of courses	86	84	77
Grading	88	84	85
Tests	90	90	88
Guidance	82	81	80
School rules/regulations	86	78	71
Library	76	83	85
Laboratory	88	84	82
Special help in reading, math, etc.	93	91	89
Provisions for academically outstanding	95	93	89
Career education and planning	88	86	81
Average of 11 areas	87	86	83

Additional Data

The following is some of the additional data collected on the ACT Student Profile Form, comparative Utah and U.S. data are available.

ADDITIONAL DATA

		Percentage of Students	Average ACT Score
Estimated Income	$42,000 - $50,000	12%	21.4
	$50,000 - $60,000	13%	21.3
	$60,000 - $80,000	15%	22.1
High School Program	College preparatory	43%	23.5
	Vocational/business	18%	20.1
College choice	Brigham Young University	30%
	Utah Valley State College	18%
	University of Utah	8%
	Utah State University	8%
	Ricks College	8%
Planned Majors	Health	20%	21.4
	Visual/performing arts	8%	21.6
	Education	7%	21.4
	Business	7%	20.7
H.S. Class Rank	Top Quarter	43%	23.7
	2^nd Quarter	34%	20.3
	3^rd Quarter	11%	18.2

Other Data

Only a small portion of the total data provided by the ACT is presented in this report.Each high school received a comprehensive summary of school specific data.For additional ACT data or assistance with analyzing or reporting the data please contact John Jesse at 756-8464.