The Tennessee Department of Education highlighted Jackson County Schools for a significant improvement in the percentage of students meeting ACT benchmarks last year.
The state wants an ACT score of 21. Jackson County raised its percentage of students who met the benchmark score from 22 percent to 41.3 percent. Director of Schools Jason Hardy said the school system is thrilled to see the improvement.
“Really have that as a school goal and a school district goal, so to know that we have administrators, teachers, and students making it a priority to study for it and to put the effort into it, it just thrills us to see the improvement,” Hardy said.
Jackson County Schools were also highlighted for having 37.8 percent of economically disadvantaged students meet the benchmark score, which is a 26.4 percent increase from 2024. Hardy said meeting the benchmark score for economically disadvantaged students is huge for creating post-secondary opportunities.
“If you are economically disadvantaged, the ACT benchmark of 21 might be the difference in getting that money to go to college or not go to college,” Hardy said. “So it’s just a huge accomplishment for those students, and like I said, those families, it is very beneficial to them.”
Hardy said the school system has made it a goal to let families know how important scoring well on the ACT can be for the future of their child.
“It just kind of trickles down to we have some ACT prep classes, but mostly it is every teacher working each day to help students learn and grow, and get familiar with the ACT and any kind of testing platform they can use to get into a school. So, but overall the main thing is when you put it out there, as this is our goal, and everybody buys in, that is when you see results.”
Hardy said the recognition shows that students can accomplish their goals even in a rural area like Jackson County. Hardy said the school system will strive to continue making gains on ACT scores.
