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BONITA SPRINGS — It’s like a test buffet.

Lee County high schoolers are liking the taste left behind by the ACT. To many of them, it tastes like high school success.

The Lee County students’ average scores on the SAT and ACT were released Friday. The number of students taking the ACT last school year increased and the district’s average scores remained stable. On the SAT end, the number of students taking the test decreased and the scores increased. The district remains behind the state average scores on both tests.

In order to receive their diploma, the students needed to score a passing grade on the college-bound ACT or SAT tests or the state’s 10th-grade Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.

Estero High School Principal George Clover said he hears the ACT has a reputation of being less challenging than the others, especially the state’s test, which determines teachers’ performance pay, whether students advance grade levels and Florida’s academic ranking among other states.

“Well, I think the consensus going through is the ACT is probably an easier test,” Clover said when asked about the switcheroo in test taking, with the number of SAT-takers down and ACT-takers up. About 400 more students took the ACT in 2008 than did in 2007 and the percentage of Lee County seniors taking the SAT decreased by 6 percent.

Many educators believe that whenever the number of students taking a test increases, the average scores on those test increase. However, Lee County has broken away from the generalization in this round of ACT and SAT results. Even though fewer students took the SAT, the scores decreased.

Superintendent James Browder said district officials will try to determine the reason for the drop, but suggested the decrease might be due to a large percentage of lower-performing students taking the SAT in order to receive their diploma.

“Florida is the only state in the union that I’m aware of where we encourage level one or two performers on the FCAT to take the SAT and ACT to get their diploma,” Browder said. “We had several hundred kids that did that last year ... I’m delighted that we encourage kids to take the test.”

Clover said many students received their diploma last year because of the SAT or ACT option, since they wouldn’t have with their failing FCAT scores.

“I can say only that I believe almost 400 students in Lee County crossed the stage last year, because they had scored high enough on the ACT to avoid the non-graduation because of the lack of passing the FCAT. That’s a pretty big chunk,” Clover said, adding that he would like to see students from other states take the FCAT.

“Our FCAT is not an easy test,” Clover said. “We’d love to give it to the other states that are passing the national test to see what their scores would be if they were taking our FCAT test. Our FCAT test, we’ve raised the bar and continue to raise it.”