At Brother Martin, we track student performance data to make sure we are reaching our goals for student success and college preparation. The “high stakes test” for our students is the ACT, which is used by most colleges as part of their admissions criteria. Typically, students take the test beginning in the Spring of their 11th grade year; many students take the test multiple times in hopes of raising their scores. Over the years, our teachers have initiated a series of activities that complement our already rigorous college prep curriculum to make sure students are prepared for the test, both in terms of its content as well as its format. Do students know the content material? Are they familiar with the way the ACT asks students questions about the various subject areas? Activities such as intentional classroom instruction centered around common ACT challenges in content, practice testing, ACT-style assessment questions on regular classroom tests and exams, and our more recent weekly test preparation class for all students have obviously had a powerful effect on student ACT performance. The chart below clearly shows the significant increase in the average composite score (a combination of all the scores on the various subtests; the composite score is generated by ACT) for 100% of our seniors for each of their class years. The 2013 average ACT score for all students in the state of Louisiana is 19.5. The 2013 average for all students taking the ACT in the nation is a 20.9. Congratulations, Crusaders, on your improved performance, and congratulations, Brother Martin faculty, on building on a solid curriculum and adding the resources necessary to empower our students to flourish!
*Years 2010-2014 are an average of both academic and honors students’ scores.
