Clarkdale High School ranked among top schools in Mississippi with high ACT results

Clarkdale High School ranks one of the top 5 schools in the State of Mississippi to achieve high ACT scores and faculty are working hard to keep that possible.

“The Act is a test used by colleges to determine whether a student has prepared or have prepared a student is for college work and it’s scored from 1 to 36, 36 being the maximum score and our average score this year was a 20.7 for our juniors.”

Hardy says faculty will often share ways to administer The Act prep materials.

“Our 11th grade intervention teachers, they’re still community, they meet constantly with each other and with other teachers to focus on the areas where the students are deficient.”

Clarkdale High senior English teacher Julie Rawson says other school tasks will come up but she and other teachers make time to prepare students for the ACT.

“I know that in English, the 11th-grade teacher and I use ACT as bell ringers especially with my ninth graders just getting into the ACT, so we go through probably 3 or 4 practice test a year. “

Rawson adds how the ACT is not the only school test students have to be worried about, but their future depends on how well they do.

“I think we realized that state test scores are fine, but they’re not going to get them a scholarship, Act is what’s going to get them the scholarship and so we just at this school along with Mr. Hardy as our leader, he just said we want to focus on ACT and try to get the scores up for the students they’re the ones who really benefit from this.”

Hardy also says the mission has been passed on by a former educator to make students successful.

“ 40 years ago the highest ACT the graduating senior at Clarkdale was 18, and we had a teacher that came in the very next year Mrs. Joan Harrington who was my high school English teacher, and her husband was one of the administrators here and their focus was on raising the ACT scores.”