The ACT is so crucial in high school for most students whether it be they want early release from school or their future college plans.

   Per Mississippi State Board of Education in order to have early release you must have a 17 on English and 19 in Math. 

   Recently the school district bought the online-based program On To College for high school students in order to make sure they are able to reach the requirements and allow them the extra opportunity to bring up their individual scores. 

“Students do grow on average two to five points per test administration, so we are looking to gain those few points per student on the next ACT,” Administrator Brittany Brown said.   

   This program is intended to help students as early as possible with their ACT scores. All grades ninth through 12th are doing the On To College ACT program on their chromebooks. The students who are not in a state-tested class during the first block will engage certain skills and strategies that will help them significantly on the ACT during the first 20 to 30 minutes of class.

   “George County High School ACT scores have been good, but we wanted to make them better and with the state benchmarks, we wanted to make sure we reached those or exceeded those, putting the scores where they needed to be,” Principal Sid Taylor said.

   In 2020 many were not able to take the ACT due to COVID-19. With fewer students taking the ACT it took a harder toll on the school’s overall results with the state benchmarks and scores. The scores were only a little under average for the state. At the end of the nine weeks a free ACT will be given to Juniors on March 7-8 and Sophomores on March 15-16. The test will be a little different than a normal ACT. It will be given online versus pencil and paper.