Illinois Students Close To National ACT Average

The state Board of Education says the Illinois High School graduating class of 2013 earned a composite score of 20.6 on the ACT.

That score on the four-subject college readiness test places the state slightly under the national average of 20.9.

The state's score appears to dip slightly compared to last year's score of 20.9. But the state board says that's because of a new way of measurement calling for students who take the test with extended time to be included in composite scores for the first time.

A total of 160,066 students were tested.

The ACT is scored on a 1 to 36 scale.