Stay informed about education changes affecting your kids with our Education Watch Newsletter. Jennifer, an expert on Oklahoma education issues, ensures you get the essential information you need.
Sign up today for First Watch!
Want to understand Oklahoma better? Sign up for First Watch and let Ted Streuli guide you beyond the surface of daily news.
Oklahoma’s average ACT composite score climbed 1 point in 2021, though far fewer students took the exam due to pandemic cancellations.
The state’s class of 2021 averaged a 19.7 on the ACT, according to data released Wednesday (see table below). The national average was 20.3 on the exam, which has a maximum score of 35.
But Oklahoma’s participation dropped to an estimated 58% after several years of achieving 100% due to the state’s requirement that all 11th graders take a college readiness exam at school for accountability. Nearly all Oklahoma districts administer the ACT, though a few use SAT.
These students would have been in 11th grade in 2020, when state tests were canceled at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. All states received federal waivers from testing that year.
The Oklahoma Department of Education planned to pay to administer the ACT or SAT in the fall of 2020 when those students returned for their senior year, but the Legislature cut the department’s budget by $78 million, including $5.4 million less for testing.
Support Oklahoma Watch by donating today. Your contribution protects free speech, ensures accountability, and promotes transparency through unbiased reporting. In an era of misinformation, our investigative journalism empowers Oklahomans with fact-based stories.
Sign up for Oklahoma Watch Newsletters to get daily and weekly insights: deeper context on Oklahoma news, crucial education updates, and important democracy observations, plus local photography highlights.
School is always in session with Jennifer Palmer’s Education Watch! This weekly newsletter delivers her insights on crucial education topics that may not get in-depth coverage elsewhere.
Own the water cooler conversation with First Watch! Sign up to get Ted Streuli's insights on Oklahoma's biggest stories and stay informed.
Students could take the test on their own at a national testing site, but there are barriers to doing so, including cost, transportation, work and family obligations, and coronavirus-related closures.
This year, the state expanded the exams offered to students using federal COVID-19 relief funding. Schools could provide optional test dates for the ACT, SAT and PSAT for students in 10th through 12th grades. The PSAT is the qualifying test for the National Merit Scholarship program.
Beginning with the 2017 graduating class, Oklahoma began offering either ACT or SAT for free during school hours to all juniors. That year’s seniors averaged a 19.4 composite, a one-point compared to the previous year.
A decrease in scores typically occurs when the pool of test takers is widened.
Nationally, though, both the number of students who took the ACT and the average score declined. U.S. 2021 graduates’ average composite score of 20.3 was down from 20.6 in 2020 and the lowest score in more than a decade, according to ACT.
Among the class of 2021, just 1.3 million students took the ACT, compared to 1.7 million 2020 graduates and 2 million students from the Class of 2017. Far fewer students took the SAT as well, according to College Board.
Most universities across the country have opted to not require students to submit standardized test scores, with those policies expanding significantly since 2020. That has been good news for students, particularly those from diverse backgrounds, said Bob Shaeffer, executive director of the National Center for Fair & Open Testing, or FairTest, an advocacy organization that works to end biases and misuses of standardized testing.
Test-optional schools consider applicants’ grade point average, class rank and other achievements. About two dozen Oklahoma universities are included on a list of test-optional schools maintained by FairTest.
“In general, schools that went test-optional got more applicants, better academically qualified applicants and more diversity,” Shaeffer said. “It’s been a win-win for students and admissions offices.”
The freshman class at the University of Oklahoma in Norman is the most diverse in the school’s history, according to university data. Of its 4,595 freshman students, 38% are non-white and 25% are first-generation students, meaning they do not have a parent who completed a bachelor’s degree.
Just 65% reported an ACT or SAT score in their application, compared to nearly 99% in 2020, the data shows.
Oklahoma State University in Stillwater also reported admitting its most diverse class of students ever, with historically marginalized and underrepresented students making up 30% of the incoming class. Twenty percent of the freshman class are first-generation students.
Shaeffer said he believes many universities will maintain test-optional policies after the pandemic.
Best practice is to compare states with similar participation rates. Benchmark scores predict a 50% chance a student will obtain a grade of B or higher or 75% chance of obtaining a C or higher in the corresponding college course.
| State | Estimated Percent of Graduates Tested | Average Composite Score | Percent Meeting English Benchmark | Percent Meeting Reading Benchmark | Percent Meeting Math Benchmark | Percent Meeting Science Benchmark |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 100 | 18.7 | 48 | 32 | 21 | 23 |
| Kentucky | 100 | 19.2 | 51 | 36 | 27 | 26 |
| Mississippi | 100 | 18.1 | 43 | 28 | 18 | 19 |
| Nevada | 100 | 17.8 | 39 | 29 | 20 | 20 |
| North Dakota | 100 | 19.6 | 51 | 37 | 35 | 32 |
| Tennessee | 100 | 19.1 | 52 | 36 | 25 | 28 |
| Arkansas | 99 | 19 | 51 | 34 | 23 | 26 |
| Louisiana | 98 | 18.4 | 48 | 31 | 20 | 23 |
| Wisconsin | 96 | 20 | 55 | 39 | 37 | 36 |
| North Carolina | 92 | 18.9 | 43 | 36 | 29 | 27 |
| Wyoming | 91 | 19.8 | 53 | 42 | 32 | 32 |
| Nebraska | 86 | 20 | 55 | 42 | 33 | 35 |
| Utah | 86 | 20.6 | 59 | 46 | 38 | 37 |
| Ohio | 85 | 19.6 | 50 | 40 | 33 | 31 |
| Kansas | 79 | 19.9 | 53 | 42 | 32 | 32 |
| Montana | 70 | 20.4 | 56 | 44 | 36 | 36 |
| Hawaii | 67 | 18.2 | 40 | 31 | 22 | 23 |
| Missouri | 63 | 20.6 | 59 | 46 | 35 | 36 |
| Minnesota | 60 | 21.6 | 61 | 52 | 48 | 45 |
| Oklahoma | 58 | 19.7 | 55 | 42 | 26 | 29 |
| South Dakota | 55 | 21.6 | 65 | 52 | 46 | 45 |
| South Carolina | 50 | 18.6 | 43 | 35 | 25 | 26 |
| Iowa | 47 | 21.5 | 64 | 52 | 41 | 44 |
| Arizona | 35 | 19.8 | 52 | 41 | 35 | 32 |
| Florida | 34 | 20.4 | 59 | 46 | 34 | 35 |
| West Virginia | 30 | 20.8 | 68 | 49 | 32 | 36 |
| Georgia | 24 | 22.6 | 72 | 58 | 50 | 48 |
| New Mexico | 23 | 20.7 | 58 | 47 | 36 | 37 |
| Texas | 23 | 20.1 | 52 | 42 | 35 | 34 |
| Oregon | 20 | 20.6 | 56 | 47 | 38 | 38 |
| District of Columbia | 19 | 25.6 | 76 | 70 | 66 | 66 |
| Illinois | 19 | 25.2 | 88 | 72 | 68 | 65 |
| Alaska | 16 | 20.6 | 56 | 47 | 41 | 38 |
| Colorado | 16 | 23.6 | 78 | 64 | 59 | 56 |
| Idaho | 16 | 23 | 75 | 61 | 53 | 51 |
| Indiana | 14 | 23.1 | 74 | 62 | 57 | 52 |
| New Jersey | 12 | 25.1 | 83 | 70 | 67 | 62 |
| Connecticut | 9 | 27.2 | 92 | 82 | 78 | 76 |
| Michigan | 9 | 25.1 | 87 | 72 | 68 | 65 |
| New York | 9 | 26.3 | 88 | 77 | 76 | 73 |
| Virginia | 9 | 25.5 | 86 | 75 | 68 | 67 |
| Maryland | 8 | 25.5 | 86 | 74 | 67 | 65 |
| Massachusetts | 7 | 27.6 | 92 | 83 | 81 | 79 |
| Pennsylvania | 7 | 25 | 84 | 73 | 67 | 64 |
| Washington | 7 | 23.6 | 70 | 62 | 57 | 55 |
| California | 5 | 26.1 | 84 | 74 | 72 | 68 |
| Delaware | 5 | 25.7 | 86 | 76 | 66 | 68 |
| New Hampshire | 4 | 26.6 | 89 | 79 | 75 | 71 |
| Rhode Island | 4 | 25.8 | 89 | 79 | 70 | 67 |
| Vermont | 4 | 24.7 | 83 | 77 | 62 | 66 |
| Maine | 2 | 25.6 | 87 | 77 | 72 | 69 |
| National | 35 | 20.3 | 56 | 44 | 36 | 35 |
| Source: ACT |
Jennifer Palmer has been a reporter with Oklahoma Watch since 2016 and covers education. Contact her at (405) 761-0093 or jpalmer@oklahomawatch.org. Follow her on Twitter @jpalmerOKC.
Every day we strive to produce journalism that matters — stories that strengthen accountability and transparency, provide value and resonate with readers like you.
This work is essential to a better-informed community and a healthy democracy. But it isn’t possible without your support.
Republish This Story
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
Close window XMost of Oklahoma Watch’s content is available for republication by other news media in print and digital form. Please follow these terms for republication:
* Reporters’ bylines and photographers’ credit lines should be accompanied by “Oklahoma Watch.”
* Include the Oklahoma Watch logo (found here).
* Use the following credit line at the end of the story, with oklahomawatch.org hyperlinked online:
“Oklahoma Watch, at oklahomawatch.org, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that covers public-policy issues facing the state.”
by Jennifer Palmer, Oklahoma Watch
October 18, 2021
