Nashville, Tennessee – The Tennessee Department of Education has released data on the 2023 ACT Senior Retake. This provides public high school seniors with an additional opportunity to increase their ACT scores at no cost.
Thanks to retake opportunities, the number of high school seniors who took the ACT in 2023 and qualified for the state's HOPE scholarships will increase to 24,623, representing one in three high school students .
Tennessee leads the nation in access to the ACT, becoming the first state in the nation to offer public high school seniors the opportunity to take the ACT twice for free during regular school hours, and increasing the state's overall ACT participation rate. has a high standard of 99% of its fourth year graduates. 2023. A public school student will have the opportunity to take her exam once in the spring of her junior year and then retake her ACT during regular school hours in the fall of her senior year.
Since its launch in 2018, more than 423,000 students across the state have participated in retake opportunities. In fall 2023, 51,745 students participated in the retake opportunity, and 77% of those students improved their superscores (the average of the highest subscores in each subject). All test attempts.
In addition, economically disadvantaged students increased their composite score by 2.02 points and their superscore by 2.36 points, and students with disabilities increased their composite score by 2.01 points and their superscore by 2.35 points.
“All students should have the opportunity to qualify for additional scholarships and increase their chances of receiving a post-secondary education,” said Education Secretary Lizette Reynolds. “Thank you to the General Assembly for implementing and supporting this program that has made education beyond high school a reality for thousands of Tennessee students.”
Key highlights of the 2023 ACT Senior Retake Opportunity:
- Of the 51,745 students who took the exam again, 77% improved their Superscore and 65% improved their score in two or more subjects.
- Tennessee retakers outpaced national ACT score increases, increasing an average of 2.09 points compared to 1 point nationally
- Average overall score increased by 0.5 points and 49% of students received a higher score on retake
- A total of 4,147 (8%) students qualified for the HOPE Scholarship as a result of participating in the retake opportunity. Of these, 537 (12.9%) were Black, 494 (11.9%) were Hispanic, and 746 (17.9%) were economically disadvantaged students.
Since 2018, the Tennessee General Assembly has funded the ACT Senior Retake in every budget, and more than 88,000 students have achieved the scores necessary to qualify for the Tennessee HOPE Scholarship. This totals more than $550 million and will support future post-secondary opportunities for students across the state.
In 2022, the department will be presenting the inaugural ACT State Equity and Access Champion Award, which celebrates and recognizes the state's commitment to post-secondary access by enabling more students to achieve their goals and dreams. I received an award.
The ACT is a comprehensive college entrance exam that covers a wide range of subjects to assess a student's readiness for college. Students who score 21 or higher on the ACT meet the criteria for Ready Graduate, a state index that recognizes schools and districts whose high school graduates demonstrate post-secondary readiness.
For more information about the state's college readiness testing programs, including the ACT and SAT, visit the department's college readiness testing webpage.
