Coweta | News | Peachtree City

Fayette’s SAT scores 3rd in Georgia

Thu, 08/31/2006 - 3:05pm
By: John Thompson

Fayette County school officials jubilantly released the school system’s Scholastic Aptitude Test scores Tuesday.

Fayette’s district-wide score of 1555 was third in the state for districts that had more than one high school. Only Cherokee County with a score of 1565, and Fulton with a 1580 scores surpassed Fayette.

Fayette’s score was 79 points above the state average of 1477 and 39 over the national average 1517, said school spokesperson Melinda Berry-Dreisbach in a press release Tuesday.

“We are extremely pleased with how our students performed on the new SAT. This high performance is a direct result of dedicated teachers, administrators, students and parents. While Fayette’s scores remain among the best in the state and nation, there is room for improvement. We will continue to systematically evaluate our overall educational program to help ensure that our schools are bringing the best education possible to all students,” said Superintendent John DeCotis.

McIntosh led the Fayette contingent with a score of 1629, which was 16th best for a single school in the state. Starr’s Mill students scored 1605 and finished 20th in the state, followed by Fayette County’s 1509 and Sandy Creek’s 1457.

Statewide, Georgia improved from a tie for last place in 2005 with South Carolina to 46th. State officials said Georgia bypassed Florida, Hawaii, Pennsylvania and South Carolina.

“Better SAT scores mean that more of our students are getting into the colleges and universities of their choice,” said State School Superintendent Kathy Cox in a press release. “For too long our rank overshadowed the truth — that Georgia has some of the best teachers and brightest students in the country. Today’s results are just another example of the great work that is going on in Georgia’s classrooms.”

This is the first year of the “new” SAT. The new test features the addition of a writing section where students are asked to write an essay that requires them to take a position on an issue and use reasoning and examples to support their position. The writing section also includes multiple-choice questions that measure a student’s ability to identify sentence errors, improve sentences and improve paragraphs.

Also new on the test is the addition of Algebra II to the math section, gone are quantitative comparisons, and analogies have been removed from the critical reading section. A perfect score on the new test is 2400, compared to the old gold standard of 1600.

Editor's note: The initial story was filed with incorrect data from the Department of Education's Web site. This story contains the correct scores.

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Lower Test Scores
All Smiles's picture
Submitted by All Smiles on Mon, 09/04/2006 - 8:46am.

Facts are typically lower socioeconomical areas bring lower test scores and less emphasis on education. There are many areas in the Sandy Creek area which have a very high socioeconomical status. My guess is they are "watered down" by all the other areas whos children are more concerned with looking ghetto fabulous than being high achieving students (Blacks and Whites). Its not about race. We need to stop allowing the builders to put low income housing and apartments here in Fayette. This alone will boost our scores. My guess with Fayette County HS is the Riverdale/Clayton County people are moving in. Stop the flood gate by making our county less affordable.


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Wow...talk about missing the point
nuk's picture
Submitted by nuk on Tue, 09/05/2006 - 1:39pm.

Fulton County has HIGHER SAT scores than Fayette. By your crazy logic, that would mean that Fulton has higher socioeconomics than Fayette. Wrong!

Economic status is not a direct correllation to either test scores or education.

What it tells me is that the Fayette BOE needs to take a look at what kind of teaching and administration is going on at Sandy Creek and Fayette Co High since they are underachieving big-time.


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Scores
Submitted by bobby1378 on Mon, 09/04/2006 - 12:54pm.

"Make the County less affordable"??????????
Where do you live. Fayette county is not exactly "affordable"
We have one of the highest taxes in the state, our "low income" housing starts in the low 130's and our school taxes are outragous.
You may not know this, but other counties are not just bringing their kids to Fayette schools. You have to live in the county where your kids go to school. Third in the state is an outstanding acheivment for Fayette and should be commended and not clouded with "Upperclass" snobs like you tainting it. Go back to your bon bons and sofa and leave the real thinking to us "low income" working class people.
I now know the reason your handle here is "all smiles"

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$$ equals scores?
Submitted by newtoptc on Mon, 09/04/2006 - 9:43am.

lower income does not equate to lower scores. Poor education does. The fact that lower income areas tend to have crappy schools speaks to our school systems, not to how much the students family have in the bank.

Since you recommend pricing out anyone with low scores, one has to ask what your test scores were in HS and does your new plan allow for you to live here Smiles?

Or does this only apply to those moving here and lowering our test scores....not those already here.

If we have an issue with the test scores then we need to fix the schools, not just prevent students who might not meet our standards from attending.

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New to PTC
kimberlyinptc's picture
Submitted by kimberlyinptc on Mon, 09/04/2006 - 10:54am.

We've covered this topic in another thread, but the fact is that Sandy Creek and Fayette County High cover the same curriculum as Starr's Mill and McIntosh. They have the same facilities and textbooks, etc. These aren't slums or ghettos...these schools don't need to be "fixed" but maybe the students do. Maybe parents with more $$ put a bigger emphasis on education than do lower income people. That doesn't mean rich people are smarter, per se, but the numbers are there to show their kids, on average, score higher. Not just here, but around the US. I couldn't have been poorer in high school but back in the mid 80's I managed almost a 1400 on my last SAT. That was in a Clayton County school...it can be done!


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Congrats to kimberlyinPTC
Submitted by bobby1378 on Mon, 09/04/2006 - 1:04pm.

Money doesn't mean smart it just means you can afford bigger words. KimberlyinPTC my dear you deserve to be patted on the back and commended for your score. YAY kimberly

People like Allsmiles are the ones who never had to work for anything. My guess is that when you were in Highschool you also had a job. We were poor as well in school. My parents put a strong emphasis on school so we could survive in the world and not have to be looked down on by the upper socialites in this country. My father has a seventh grade education and is one of the most intelligent people I have ever known. He may not have "book smarts" but he has something greater.....common sense.
Oh and guess what he lived in Riverdale most of his life.

Once again great job kimberlyinPTC. Just from reading (believe it or not we can All Smiles) your blog here I can honestly say you are a great person.

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Cherokee County??!!
Submitted by bowser on Fri, 09/01/2006 - 6:57am.

They were the big surprise in the SAT scores this year, posting the second-best scores in the region ahead of no. 3 Fayette. A look at their scores is revealing. They have 4 high schools, none of which scored as high as Mac or Starr's Mill. But they were incredibly consistent -- all scoring between 1550 and 1599.
Sadly, Fayette now has a solidly two-tier school system. Mac and Starr's Mill are hanging onto their achiever status, for now anyway, but FCHS and SCHS are just average.
Don't think this doesn't matter if you have no kids in school. Fayette's reputation and property values are largely based on two things: high-achieving schools and slow-growth policies.
Both appear to be under increasing attack.

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Then why are Fulton's SAT
Leoah Whineknott's picture
Submitted by Leoah Whineknott on Tue, 09/05/2006 - 12:45am.

Then why are Fulton's SAT scores higher than Fayette's?


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HELLO?! EVER HEARD OF NORTH FULTON?!
Newsboy's picture
Submitted by Newsboy on Fri, 09/08/2006 - 1:59am.

Fulton County Schools serve both north AND south Fulton, with the City of Atlanta plopped right down in between .... (more than just symbolic!). Surely you've explored up Ga. 400 at some point in your life? North Fulton suburbs are the richest in Metro Atlanta (makes our neck of the woods look like Hooterville!) and the schools reflect that! The 10 or so high schools in North Fulton (Roswell, Alpharetta, North Springs, Centennial, Milton, Chattahoochee, Riverview, etc.) post the highest scores in the state, so high in fact they offset the low scores of the 5 or so South Fulton schools enough to rank the system tops in Georgia year after year!

Of course, South Fulton is awash in high-end development ... the only thing holding it back is the quality of the public schools on the south end ... will be intersting to see what develops!


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Ouch
Git Real's picture
Submitted by Git Real on Tue, 09/05/2006 - 7:39am.

Ouch


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