NATCHEZ — Students in the Natchez-Adams School District showed a decline in ACT scores released Thursday by the Mississippi Department of Education.

Statewide the average score among juniors who took the ACT decreased from 18 in 2017 to 17.8. Since 2015, annual averages among juniors have ranged from 17.6 to 18.3.

The ACT’s college readiness benchmark scores are 18 for English, 22 for reading, 22 for mathematics and 23 for science.

At Natchez High School, the 185 juniors who took the ACT scored 14.1, which is 0.6 lower than the 14.7 average composite score of 164 juniors who took the ACT in 2017. The students scored below the benchmark with averages of 12.5 in English, 14.7 in mathematics, 14.2 in reading, and 14.5 in science.

At the Natchez Early College Academy, 48 students tested for an average composite score of 17.2, down 0.3 points from their 17.5 average in 2017. The students scored averages of 16.5 in English, 16.3 in mathematics, 18.6 in reading and 17.3 in science.

The Natchez-Adams School District’s 212 students testing had an average composite score of 14.6, down 0.8 from their average composite score of 15.4 in 2017. The students scored averages of 13.0 in English, 14.9 in mathematics, 14.8 in reading and 14.9 in science.

Natchez-Adams Superintendent Fred Butcher said he has not seen the test scores, and he declined to comment by phone. Deputy Superintendent Zander McDonald also declined to comment by phone Thursday.