Mondovi ACT scores top area schools

by Beth Kraft

Wisconsin’s ACT results held steady in 2015, but Mondovi High School’s average composite ACT score jumped nearly a point-and-a-half over the previous year’s average score, landing the Buffaloes at the top of the list.

Mondovi’s 2015 seniors who took the ACT test turned out an average score of 24.4—the highest composite average ACT score out of all area schools.

Thirty-nine students out of 67 members of the Class of 2015 took the test.

“For the last five years, it’s been one of our building goals to focus on improving our ACT performance,” commented Mondovi Middle/High School Principal Michael Bruning. “Basically I think it comes down to quality instruction.”

The staff has really focused on improving the rigor of high school curriculum to help prepare students for college courses, Bruning explained. ACT prep for juniors was also offered.

That intense focus seems to be paying off. Since the 2010-11 school year, Mondovi’s ACT scores have seen an overall upward trend from two years at 22.7 to 23.0 in 2013-14 followed by the leap to 24.4 last year.

At Eleva-Strum and Gilmanton, members of the Class of 2015 turned in average composite ACT scores of 23.3 and 22.6, respectively. Other neighboring schools ranged from average scores of 19.9 in Alma to 21.7 in Independence, 22.9 at Durand and 24.0 at Cochrane-Fountain City.

At larger school districts in the Eau Claire area, where many more students took the test, ACT averages ranged from 20.4 at Eau Claire North to 23.0 at Chippewa Falls. Altoona students scored a 23.9.

Statewide, the DPI says 2015 graduates turned out an average composite score of 22.2, which tied with Iowa for second place behind Minnesota (22.7) among states where 50 percent or more of students take the assessment.

Bruning said the ACT averages turned in by the Class of 2015 puts Mondovi at No. 20 out of 447 schools in Wisconsin, a ranking in the top 4.5 percent statewide.

MHS was also recently recognized by U.S. News & World Report as being in the top 10 percent (51st) amongst Wisconsin schools based on its state assessment data and AP test results.

“It’s a district-wide source of pride,” said Bruning of Mondovi’s climbing ACT scores. “We really promoted it and focused on it.”

ACT performance initiatives are becoming quite common in many school districts, Bruning said, as is a focus on college readiness.

Teachers don’t prep students specifically for the ACT test, Bruning emphasized, rather college-level academic skills are developed in students should they choose to continue their education after high school. In the process, students become well-versed in material that appears on the ACT test—an indicator of college readiness.

“We’re trying to set it up so all students at least have the option [to go to college],” said Bruning.

As part of a new assessment system, all juniors will now take the ACT test as opposed to only those students on a college-bound track. It will be interesting to see next year how that change affects the average ACT scores, Bruning pointed out.

According to DPI figures, approximately 73 percent of the state’s 2015 public and private school graduates (46,738 students) took the ACT during high school. Nationally, 59 percent of graduates (1.9 million students) took the ACT, registering an average composite score of 21.0—the same as in 2014.

As virtually all Wisconsin juniors took the ACT this past spring, the DPI expects to see average scores decline.