(Radio Iowa) — Iowa high school students who took the A-C-T have tied for the best average score in the country with students from South Dakota. The ranking is among states with more than half of students in the Class of 2019 who took the A-C-T. Two-thirds of the Iowa students who graduated from high school last spring took the A-C-T. Their average composite score was 21-point-six out of a possible 36. That’s slightly about the national average — and slightly below the average score among Iowa students in the Class of 2018 who took the A-C-T.

A-C-T is based in Iowa City. The organization reports a growing number of high school graduates in the United States are inadequately prepared for success in college. The national average scores in the math and English sections of the A-C-T were the lowest they’ve been in 15 years.