Minnesota students rank high nationally

Minnesota's public school students are among the most successful in the nation. Take a look at the measures below.

ACT scores are among the highest

Minnesota's average composite score of 22.9 was the highest in the nation among the 27 states in which more than half the college-bound students took the test in 2010.
Minnesota students’ average score of 22.6 remains above the national average ACT score of 21.
70 percent of Minnesota graduating high school seniors took the ACT in 2010.

NAEP scores are at or near the top

Overall reading achievement levels for Minnesota’s fourth and eighth graders remained near the top in the nation, with only three states posting better scores in eighth grade and only six states posting better scores in fourth grade according to the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) released by the National Center for Education Statistics.

Seventy percent of fourth-graders read at or above a basic reading level (National average is 34 percent).
Eighty-two percent of eighth-graders read at or above a basic reading level (National average is 43 percent).

Minnesota ranks third in 2009 average NAEP fourth-grade math scores.

Eighty-nine percent of fourth-graders are at or above basic math levels (National average is 81).

MN ranks second in 2009 average NAEP eighth-grade math scores.

Eighty-three percent of eighth-graders are at or above basic math levels (National average is 71).

College prep strong

The number of students taking the AP exam increased seven percent from 30,392 in 2009 to 32,541 in 2010.
Thirteen percent of AP test takers were students of color an increase of 10 percent from the previous year.
Seventy percent of Minnesota's high school graduating class of 2008 attended a postsecondary institution the following fall either in Minnesota or elsewhere. Fifty percent attended a Minnesota institution and 19 percent attended institutions out of state.
Minnesota ranked ninth in the nation in 2006, with 68 percent of the state's 2005-2006 high school graduates enrolling in college directly from high school.
During the 2007-08 school year, a total of 27,966 Minnesota high school juniors and seniors participated in PSEO.
During the 2006-07 school year, 1,624 students took 3,674 International Baccalaureate exams. The average was 2.3 exams per student. Exams are graded on a scale of 1 to 7.
International Baccalaureate diplomas were earned by 110 students. These students took six or more exams, completed a 4,000 word essay, and did 150 hours of creativity, action, and community service.

Graduation rates

In 2008-09, 75 percent of Minnesota students’ graduated in four years from a public high school, according to the Minnesota Office of Higher Education and Minnesota Department of Education.

Sources
Minnesota Office of Higher Education

National Assessment of Educational Progress

December 08, 2010