North Dakota ACT scores in slow decline since the ’90s
As North Dakota has not consistently included all high school grades in state testing, one way to assess North Dakota’s high school educational prowess is to look at ACT scores throughout the years.
Originally a primarily Midwestern alternative to the SAT, the ACT is a college admittance exam administered today to millions of high schoolers. It has four subsections: mathematics, reading, science, and English, and an optional writing exam. While the ACT was originally created in 1959, major structure shifts in 1989 produced the form of today’s exam. The ACT shifted dramatically in fall 2025, shortening the test and making the science section optional.
Perhaps partially due to the test’s Midwestern roots, the students of North Dakota have taken the ACT in steadily high numbers. In 1997, 78 percent of graduating students took the test, rising to 82 percent by 2007, and rising even further to 98 percent in 2013 and 2017. Beginning in 2018, North Dakota’s school districts were allowed to waive state-based 10th grade testing in favor of the ACT. In 2019, 96 percent of North Dakota students completed the ACT. Completion rates suffered post-COVID, slipping to 91 percent in 2022 and 84 percent in 2023 and 2024. After North Dakota’s transition to the ND A+ state testing system in 2025 and the subsequent dropping of the ACT test exemption, it’s likely that the completion rate will continue to fall. However, these consistent, high completion rates allow for a strong data-driven picture of North Dakota’s educational attainment over the years.
Using data from KIDS COUNT and the National Center for Educational Statistics (compiled by PrepScholar), I compiled the average North Dakota graduating student’s ACT score since 1996 (the earliest year available) and compared it to the average national graduating student’s ACT score. Keep in mind that nationally, the amount of ACT completers has increased from 959,301 participants in 1997 to 1.4 million in 2024.
As can be seen above, the average North Dakota ACT score remained above the national average before plummeting in 2011 (from 21.5 to 20.7). During the following decade, the average North Dakota score declined, alongside the decline of the average U.S. ACT score. In 2023 and 2024, when fewer North Dakota students took the ACT, the North Dakota score gained pace with the national score, outranking the national score in 2024 by .2 points.
It’s worth considering why the North Dakota scores have been in continuous decline since the 2007 high of 21.6, and why the national score has been in decline since the 2007 high of 21.2. One answer might come from the advent of technology. As researcher Jonathan Haidt has pointed out, after the 2008 introduction of the App Store, students’ minds have been under consistent attack from the tug of the digital world. While scores also took a tumble after the 2020 pandemic and have not yet seen a recovery, the beginning of America’s struggle to retain content mastery lines up well with the introduction of the smartphone.