Recent Cobb County School District graduates posted a composite score in the American College Test higher than both the Georgia and national averages, according to information released by the school system Wednesday. 

Cobb's Class of 2012 had an overall score of 22.2, while the Georgia average is 20.7. The national composite for recent graduates is 21.1. A total of 3,571 Cobb students, roughly 50 percent of last year's seniors took the ACT, according to CCSD data, compared to 37 percent in 2010.

Cobb graduates also showed improvement in all four ACT subject areas -- English, math, reading and science -- for the seventh consecutive year. 

Ten Cobb high schools had higher composite scores than the national average: Walton, 25.6; Lassiter, 24.6; Pope, 24.6; Kennesaw Mountain, 23.8; Wheeler, 23.5; Harrison, 23.2; Hillgrove, 22.3; Allatoona, 21.8; Kell, 21.7, and Sprayberry, 21.3.

Composite scores for students in certain sub-groups also have gone up in the period from 2007-2011: African-American, 18.1 to 18.9 and Asian, 23.1 to 25.2. Multi-ethnic student scores increased from 22.0 to 22.9 in 2012, and over five years have seen composite scores jump 2.5 points.

“The performance on the ACT clearly shows our students are well-prepared for college-level work and can compete with students from anywhere in the country,” Cobb Superintendent Dr. Michael Hinojosa said. “I am also pleased to see  the increase in performance of student groups. One of our strategic goals is to narrow the achievement gap among student groups, and the ACT results show four of the six groups with higher composite scores. That’s a clear indicator we are making progress.”

Individual high school scores are detailed in the table below; for more complete information and the CCSD release, please view the accompanying PDF.