Millcreek-area juniors at Skyline High School and other Granite District schools helped push Utah's average ACT composite to 20.1 for the class of 2026, up from 19.9 in 2025 and above the 18.8 national average.

Utah funds a free ACT for every public school junior each spring, so students across the district sat for the same exam. The Utah State Board of Education (USBE) said 44,756 Utah public school students took the test, representing 91% of graduates.

Among 16 states that tested 90% or more of their graduates, Utah ranked first in composite score, ahead of Wisconsin and Montana at 19.4 each. Utah also led that group in benchmark attainment across English, reading, math and science, according to the USBE release.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Molly Hart called the results a sign of progress, saying the state is focused on ensuring every student is prepared for success after high school.

The composite number, though, masks gaps. Only 34% of Utah public school graduates met the ACT math benchmark, up from 32% in 2025. In reading, 45% hit the mark, up from 43%.

English was the lone subject where more than half of test-takers cleared the benchmark, at 57%. Just 27% met all three core benchmarks in English, math and reading, up two percentage points from 2025.

Those math figures echo broader statewide assessment results. As the Deseret News reported, more than half of Utah high schoolers scored below proficiency in math on the Utah Aspire Plus assessment, with only 34.5% reaching proficiency statewide.

Statewide K-12 assessments released in September showed English language arts proficiency at 45.4%, up 1.5 percentage points from 2025 but still below the 46.8% baseline set in 2019. Math proficiency stood at 42.5%, more than two points below the 2019 baseline.

Science stood apart. Nearly half of Utah students (49.8%) reached proficiency, a record high since the 2019 baseline of 47%.

As we reported Oct. 14, Granite School District joined a state literacy fund to address low reading scores. The new ACT data lands as the district works to turn those literacy investments into measurable gains for Millcreek families.

Students who retook the ACT showed what extra preparation can yield: their average "superscore" reached 25.8, according to the USBE release. District-level ACT breakdowns have not been published.