ACT Scores Increase, Top State and National Averages

Fayette’s 2021 graduates maintained the school system’s traditionally high average composite score, beating last year’s by half a point, and continuing the trend of outscoring the state and nation on the college readiness test.

Fayette’s 2021 average composite score is 24.1, the fourth highest in the state and in the metro Atlanta area when compared to school systems with over 600 test takers. It also ranks in the top three percent of the 112 school systems in the state that had ACT scores.

The county’s average score is 1.5 points higher than the state average of 22.6, and 3.8 points higher than the national average of 20.3.

All five high schools landed in the top 22 percent of Georgia high schools.

Compared to the 275 Georgia high schools with ACT scores, some testing fewer than 100 students, McIntosh High School is 14th in the state, Starr’s Mill High School is 23rd in the state, Whitewater High School is 26th in the state, Sandy Creek High School is 42nd in the state, and Fayette County High School is 60th in the state.

A total of 647 students in Fayette took the 2021 ACT, down 36 percent from last year.

The ACT consists of curriculum-based tests of educational development in English, math, reading, and science designed to measure the skills needed for success in first-year college coursework.