ACT scores are down at both Lawrence high schools, a local reflection of the modest national reduction in student performance on the college-preparatory test.

The decline was steeper at Lawrence High School than at Free State High School, but both schools remain well above state and national averages.

“Our kids are doing very well in comparison to their peers,” said Randy Weseman, superintendent of Lawrence schools.

The 2002 ACT average composite score at Free State was 23.5 out of a possible 36. LHS students averaged 23.2. Last year, both schools were at 23.7.

Kansas’ composite score held steady at 21.6, while the U.S. average fell to 20.8 from 21.0.

Marlene Merrill, the Lawrence district’s director of assessment, said the Free State and LHS scores fell for a simple reason.

The 500 students who took the test in 2001-2002 didn’t do as well as their predecessors in the basics of English, math and science, she said.

And the district’s score on the reading portion of the ACT was flat, she added.

ACT reports received in the mail this week by area public school districts were a mixed bag.

Scores for students in the McLouth and Tonganoxie districts shot up dramatically.

In Tonganoxie, the score went from 19.8 last year to 21.5 this year.

Mike Bogart, principal at Tonganoxie High School, said the improvement exceeded expectations.

“We’re back on track, and hope to get better,” he said.

McLouth principal John Hamon had high praise for students who took the test last year, especially those who took college-preparatory classes to get ready for the ACT. His students posted a score of 22.6, an astonishing climb from 19.5.

“We got good teachers and a good group of kids,” Hamon said. “That’s obvious when you increase that much from one year to the next.”

Eudora and Baldwin districts reported slight increases on the ACT.

Eudora principal Dale Sample said the district’s 0.2-point improvement on the exam to 21.4 was the fourth consecutive year that students in the district had raised their scores on the ACT.

“We have a good core curriculum and we try to make test scores important to them,” he said.

In Baldwin, a 1.1-point jump to 22.4 extended the district’s five-year pattern of scores alternating annually between increases and decreases.

“Every class has its own personality and every class is different,” said Carl Brooks, a counselor at Baldwin High School.

There were 0.1-point declines at Perry-Lecompton and Ottawa, but both remained above the national average.

A 1.0-point drop on the ACT in Oskaloosa left the school below the state and national average.

However, Supt. Loren Lutes said he wasn’t concerned about the slip from 21.5 to 20.5.

He said it was a result of more Oskaloosa students taking the ACT 36 instead of 30. Generally, he said, when the number of students tested increases, test scores fall.