Georgia students beat national average on ACT, with highest scores in reading

For the seventh year in a row, Georgia students beat the national average on the ACT, with the state’s highest scores in reading. Georgia’s class of 2023 recorded an average composite score of 21.3, compared to the national average of 19.5.

“As I’ve had the occasion to say often lately – I’m incredibly proud of the class of 2023,” State School Superintendent Richard Woods said. “These students were high-school freshmen when the pandemic closed schools in 2020. Their education was severely impacted by the national crisis, but they have risen above and we’ve seen positive news regarding their SAT scores, graduation rate, and now ACT scores in recent weeks. These results also bring positive news in the area of literacy, with Georgia students scoring higher in reading than any other subject area. We will continue working hard to ensure every student has access to a strong education that will open doors to a successful future.”

Georgia students’ average score decreased slightly compared to 2022, when the average was 21.6, but still exceeds the pre-pandemic average of 20.7. Georgia’s scores in every individual subject area were higher than the national average, with Georgia students recording their highest score in the subject area of Reading:

​Additionally, the percentage of Georgia students in the class of 2023 meeting ACT’s College Readiness Benchmarks was higher than the national average in all subject areas, and the percentage of Georgia students who met all four benchmarks was eight percent higher than the national average.

The subject with the highest percentage of Georgia students meeting benchmarks was English, followed by Reading:

College Readiness benchmarks are scores on the ACT subject-area tests that represent the level of achievement required for students to have a 50% chance of obtaining a B or higher, or about a 75% chance of obtaining a C or higher, in corresponding credit-bearing first-year college courses.

Twenty-eight percent of the class of 2023 took the ACT. Seventy-four Georgia students achieved a perfect score of 36.

All scores are based on 2023 high school graduates who took the ACT at any point during high school.​​​