Wednesday, August 29, 2001
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Wednesday, August 29, 2001 |
| Fayette SAT
scores are up from last year
By MONROE ROARK
Fayette County students performed well compared with the rest of metro Atlanta and Georgia as a whole on this year's Scholastic Aptitude Test scores. The school system's verbal score is at 519, up five points from last year. The math score remains the same at 532. The system's total score of 1051, a five-point increase from the year before. Fayette's systemwide average is better than what students in Cobb, Gwinnett, Fulton and Cherokee posted, according to published reports. State Superintendent Linda Schrenko's office released statewide results late Tuesday, and the Fayette County School System confirmed Fayette's test scores shortly after that. Nationally, Fayette students scored 13 points higher on the verbal and 18 points higher on the math sections of the test for a total score that is 31 points above the national average. "We feel that these scores show that our college prep classes are right on track. Overall we are very pleased with the results," says Stuart Bennett, assistant superintendent of curriculum. McIntosh students scored highest in the county, with an average composite score of 1082, followed by Starr's Mill (1067), Sandy Creek (1032) and Fayette County High (1018). All four schools showed math scores averaging a bit higher than verbal scores. McIntosh's average was down slightly from 1102 in 2000, while the other three schools showed slight increases overall. Out of the four counties mentioned above, only four schools met or exceeded McIntosh's average Roswell (1108), Chattahoochee (1099) and Centennial (1082) in north Fulton, along with Walton (1114) in Cobb. Sandy Creek High School had the largest jump in test scores in the county. The school's verbal score is up 26 points from last year while the math score rose eight points for a total score of 1,032 a 34 point jump over last year's total figure. "Sandy Creek made a concerted effort last year to improve their scores by initiating an SAT prep course. These scores indicate that their time and efforts paid off," Bennett says. Approximately 83 percent of Fayette's 1,320 graduating seniors took the SAT. Nationwide, 45 percent of this year's 2.85 million high school graduates took the test. On a statewide level, the results from this year are somewhat encouraging, not entirely. A six-point gain over last year brought the state average to 980 (491 verbal, 498 math). That's the seventh straight year Georgia students have shown a gain on the SAT. But only South Carolina and the District of Columbia rank behind Georgia on the national scale, where the overall average is 1020. The next two states above Georgia are North Carolina and Texas, according to Schrenko's office. "Georgia's students have proven they are making improvements in their scholastic achievement," said Schrenko. "Our students and teachers have worked hard using reform tools that produce steady results."
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