Students pushed to take the ACT more than once

The Arkansas Department of Education is urging high school students to take the ACT college entrance exam multiple times to raise their scores and increase their college admission and scholarship opportunities.

Through its new “No Limits” campaign, the state agency will send to every high school in the coming days a short video of Arkansas high school students promoting reasons why their peers should take the exam more than once.

Informational posters and banners also will be delivered to the schools, along with ACT resource lesson plans for teachers to use with their students.

The state pays for every high school junior to take the ACT once. Students also can qualify for waivers of the fees for two additional administrations of the test if they come from families that meet income requirements for free- and reduced-price school meals.

According to ACT, a student’s composite score increases the more times the test is taken.

For members of the recent high school graduating Class of 2017, the average composite score increased from 16.5 to 21.1 on a 1 to 36-point scale for students who took the test two or more times.

The video and other No Limits campaign information, along with information on fee waivers, are on the Education Department’s website: arkansased.gov.