More of South Dakota's graduating seniors are taking the ACT examination.
The ACT is a national test that asks students to answer questions in English, Reading, Science, and Math.
80 percent of South Dakota's high school class of 2017 took the test. That's up four points from the previous year. Mary Stadick Smith with the Department of Education says it's a positive development.
"I think it's good news that we saw an increase in the percentage of graduating seniors who took the ACT in 2017 because I think that indicates that more of our students have an interest in going on to some kind of post-secondary experience and they know in order to do that an ACT score can be helpful," Stadick Smith says.
South Dakota's average ACT score of 21.8 continues to outpace the national average of 21.
Stadick Smith says public universities and technical institutes in the State are also considering South Dakota's "Smarter Balance" Test. That's a required math and language arts examination for 11th grade students. She says test scores in Level 3 and Level 4 allow for general acceptance into these institutions of higher learning. ?