ATLANTA – The Georgia Department of Education announces that students beat the national average on the ACT for the ninth year in a row.
Release:
For the ninth year in a row, Georgia students beat the national average on the ACT, and their average composite score rose even as the national average stayed steady.
“We are nearing a decade of Georgia students beating the national average on the ACT, with similar results on the SAT,” State School Superintendent Richard Woods said. “Despite the challenges public schools across the country have faced over the last decade, our students continue to outperform the national average – our teachers, school leaders, families, and students should take great pride in that accomplishment. At the state level, we will continue to work to ensure our schools, districts, and teachers have the resources they need to continue producing great outcomes – and successful futures – for students.”
Georgia students’ average composite score was 21.4 – an increase from 21.2 in 2024 and rising while the national average stayed steady at 19.4. Georgia students exceeded the national average in every individual subject area, recording their highest score in Reading:
| National Average | Georgia Average | |
| English | 18.4 | 20.6 |
| Mathematics | 18.9 | 20.7 |
| Reading | 20.0 | 22.4 |
| Science | 19.6 | 21.4 |
| Composite | 19.4 | 21.4 |
Additionally, the percentage of Georgia students in the class of 2025 meeting the 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 11 percentage points higher than the national average.
The subject with the highest percentage of Georgia students meeting benchmarks was English, followed by Reading:
| National Average | Georgia Average | |
| % met benchmarks in English | 50 | 63 |
| % met benchmarks in Mathematics | 29 | 42 |
| % met benchmarks in Reading | 39 | 53 |
| % met benchmarks in Science | 30 | 43 |
| % met all four benchmarks | 20 | 31 |
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.
All scores are based on 2025 high school graduates who took the ACT at any point during their sophomore, junior, or senior years in high school.
These results follow the recent news that Georgia’s public-school students are beating the nation on the SAT, recording a mean score 33 points higher than the national average for public-school students.
