There was good news and bad news in the recently released composite ACT scores for Louisiana students thinking about going to college.

There was good news in that two Teche Area parishes, St. Mary and Iberia, saw improvement in the average test score from students taking the ACT this past year. The bad news was that St. Martin’s average score went down.

St. Mary’s ACT test takers led the Teche Area with an average score of 19.9, up from 19.8 last year. Iberia students averaged 19.5, up from 19.1 last year. St. Martin’s scores averaged 18.9, down from an average of 19.2 the year before.

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St. Mary’s ACT scores have improved significantly over the past five years, starting at 18.9, then improving to 19.3, then 19.7 before last year’s 19.8 and this year’s 19.9. That consistent improvement is significant and notable.

Iberia’s ACT scores were the best in five years, better than the 19.4 average two years ago. But the five-year results are up and down. Five years ago the average was 19.1, then went up to 19.2, then to 19.4, but last year fell back to 19.1 before getting to 19.5 this year.

St. Martin is more of a mixed bag. It’s average ACT five years ago was 18.5, then it fell to 18.3, then improved to 19.0 before improving again to 19.2 before dropping this year back to 18.9.

We’d love to see the consistent improvement in all Teche Area scores that St. Mary Parish’s students have shown.

Unfortunately, there’s more bad news.

All three Teche Area parishes’ average scores were below the state average of 20.3 and the national average for the ACT of 21.1.

We have so much going for us in the Teche Area and would argue we have so much more to offer than so many Louisiana communities, so it’s disappointing that our test scores are below the average for our state.

It should be noted that the parish figures, from the state Department of Education, only include public school students though the state average and national averages include students from both public and private schools.

But it’s not just affluent communities that had better scores than we saw in the Teche Area.

Catahoula Parish posted a 20.8 average ACT. West Carroll averaged 20.5. St. Charles and Jefferson Davis parishes each averaged 20.1.

We should be pleased to see the improvement in two local parishes, but concerned students in all three area parishes continue to test below our state average.

And we should remember improvement in these test scores is not solely the responsibility of our school systems. Parents need to do more to push their children to be academically responsible and to take their studies more seriously.

 We all have a stake in seeing our communities’ students test scores improve.

WILL CHAPMAN

PUBLISHER