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Students Outperformed National ACT Scores

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Students Outperformed National ACT Scores

Full-Time Online High School Students Outperformed National Act Scores In 2021-22

Composite Score Trends

In 2021, Florida Virtual School (FLVS) relaunched global licensing operations under a new name: FlexPoint Education Cloud. As the international extension of FLVS, FlexPoint provides schools and districts outside of Florida with tools and resources to seamlessly implement Kindergarten-12th grade online learning programs. In Florida, FLVS is a fully accredited Kindergarten-12th grade statewide public school district with a 25-year history of offering students and families high quality and flexible online education.

FlexPoint and FLVS provide the same award-winning digital courses designed for the online learning environment, as well as instructional model, which includes evidence-based approaches, professional development for instructors, and personalized learning that allows students and teachers the flexibility to communicate one-on-one when needed.

Due to concern about student learning loss nationally, our team wanted to understand how our students performed on the ACT compared to students across Florida and the nation.

Despite national ACT scores falling below 20 out of 36, high school students enrolled full-time at FLVS are still outperforming national and statewide trends. On average, FLVS high school students scored 0.9 points higher than students nationwide and 1.7 points higher than students across Florida in 2021-22.

ACT reports that the national average composite score for its college admissions exam was 19.8 out of 36 in 2021-22. This was the first time since 1991 that the average dipped below a score of 20. Since 2018-19, the national average has decreased by nearly 1 point, and the Florida average has decreased by 1.1 points.

Figure 1 shows that FLVS high school students outperformed their counterparts at the state and national levels with a decrease of just 0.6 points between 2018-19 and 2021-22.

Figure 1: Composite ACT Scores from 2018-19 to 2021-22

Bar chart showing ACT score data

Key Points

  • From 2018-19 to 2021-22, FLVS had a smaller decrease in the average composite score (-0.6) as compared to state (-1.1) and national (-0.9) averages.
  • On average, FLVS Full Time High School students scored 1.7 points higher than students across Florida in 2021-22.
  • On average, FLVS Full Time High School students scored 0.9 points higher than students nationwide in 2021-22.
  • Since 2018-19, the number of students taking the ACT nationwide has declined by 30%, whereas the number of FLVS high school students taking the exam has increased by nearly 70%.
  • Despite national scores falling below 20 out of 36, FLVS Full Time High School students are still performing above average.

Subject Area Score Trends

In addition to average composite scores being at a 30-year low nationally, ACT reported that 42% of ACT-tested high school graduates did not meet the scoring benchmarks for any subject area in 2021-22. These benchmarks represent the minimum score necessary for probable success in college courses. FLVS Full Time High School students have consistently scored higher than the benchmarks each year since 2018-19 in Reading and English. Although FLVS Full Time High School students’ Math and Science scores are lower than the benchmarks, the scores have remained stable over time.

Figure 2: Average Subject Area Scores from 2018 to 2022

Bar chart showing ACT scores

n=Total Number of Students
Dashed line on graph represents the benchmark score for college readiness.

Key Points

  • FLVS Full Time High School students scored higher than the state across all subject areas for the first time in 2021-22.
  • On average, FLVS Full Time High School students have scored well above the college readiness benchmarks for Reading and English every year. Historically, FLVS Full Time High School students have scored higher than state and national averages in Reading and English.
  • FLVS Full Time High School students outperformed the state average in Reading by 2.6 points and English by 2 points in 2021-22.
  • Similarly, FLVS Full Time students outperformed the national average in both subjects, surpassing the national average in Reading by 2.2 points and English by 1.5 points.