Gainesville ACT scores below state, national averages; Hall results unavailable

GAINESVILLE - Gainesville Supt. of Schools Merrianne Dyer said Thursday 2013 ACT scores for the system are below both the state and national average.

The Georgia Department of Education released state data Wednesday but was unable to provide school-by-school or system-by-system information. (See link below.)

However, Dr. Dyer said she has received results for the city system and confirmed that composite results show Gainesville students who took the college prep tests averaged a score of 19.2 for the four test areas: English, Reading, Math and Science. Hall County school officials said Thursday they "do not have any scores to release."

"Gainesville City Schools encourages every student to take the ACT," Dr. Dyer said. "We realize our scores would be higher if we only allowed students who were successful in college prep courses to take the ACT. However, our mission is to support every student toward reaching their goals."

She added that the system's best course of action to improve ACT scores is to continue to "raise the expectations for all of our students in grades K-8 so that they will be better prepared for college work."

Georgia's composite score this year was 20.7