THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 25, 1995 TAG: 9508250658
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 102 lines
Scores for college-bound seniors on a renamed and revamped national test increased an average of 5 points in 1995 over the previous year's scores in 17 northeastern North Carolina school districts.
But score changes for the Scholastic Assessment Test, formerly the Scholastic Aptitude Test, varied widely among school districts - from a 56-point gain in Bertie County to a 76-point drop in Washington County.
In all, 10 Albemarle-area school districts recorded an increase in test scores in 1995 from 1994, while six districts saw scores drop and one saw no change.
The Dare County school system registered the highest average score in the region at 878, despite an 18-point drop from 1994. Halifax and Hertford counties tied for the lowest average scores, at 689.
A perfect score is 1600. The highest scoring system in the state was Chapel Hill City, with 1060. Of the 120 systems, Dare's score placed it 26th.
The wealthiest school district in the northeast, Dare was the only area system whose average score was higher than the state average of 865.
North Carolina ranked 48th ahead of only Georgia and South Carolina. The national average is 910.
North Dakota led the nation with an average score of 1107, followed by Iowa with 1099, Minnesota with 1085, Utah with 1076, Wisconsin with 1073, South Dakota with 1068, Kansas with 1060, Nebraska with 1050, Illinois with 1048 and Missouri with 1045.
Scores of neighboring states included Virginia at 896, Tennessee at 1040, Georgia at 854 and South Carolina at 844, the lowest of all states.
At a press conference in Raleigh to announce the results, test officials said they were not yet able to determine whether there is any link between school size and wealth and increases or decreases in test scores.
In the Albemarle-area, scores from Currituck and Dare counties, two of the better-funded systems, dropped in 1995 from 1994, while Tyrrell County, the state's smallest school district, saw 1995 test scores increase by 52 points over 1994.
Most area educators contacted about the test scores had difficulty identifying specific reasons for an increase or a decline.
Dare County has one of the highest participation rates in the state: 76 percent of its eligible students take the SAT. Only three other North Carolina school systems have a higher participation rate, and one other system has the same rate.
``Certainly we're disappointed in the drop in our math performance,'' said Dare Superintendent Leon Holleman. Dare dropped 25 points in math but gained 7 points in the verbal section.
``You never want to see a decrease. Yet we're pleased by the 7-point gain in verbal,'' Holleman said. ``When we looked at our overall performance in terms of the region and state, we see we're about where we'd expect. That doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement, especially in math.
``I'll be working immediately with our principals and math teachers to come up with some strategies for improvements. We did it in verbal, as a result of a concentrated effort, and I'm sure our talented students and staff can do the same in math.''
Bertie County scored the highest increase among area schools.
``It's not always predictable,'' said Sue Fairless, assistant superintendent for instruction. ``I cannot tell you that we did anything substantially different, but we do give the credit to our teachers and the people who are in the trenches.''
Marc Sosne, who has been on the job as Washington County school superintendent for less than a month, said the school system will focus on how to recover from its 76-point drop in test scores.
``When I met with my principals this morning, I told them I wasn't as concerned about why the scores dropped as much as I am concerned about what we are going to do to turn this around this year,'' he said.
An annual rite of passage for high school seniors, the SAT is widely used by colleges and universities across North Carolina as one predictor of college performance.
The College Board, the private group that administers the SAT, began updating it in 1987 to reflect educational trends toward more problem-solving skills in mathematics and more emphasis on reading comprehension. But this is the first year that the new version of the test has been widely used.
The annual release of scores has become a trying event for educators since the 1960s, when scores began plunging, touching off annual waves of criticism of American schools and drives to seek solutions to falling scores.
``I am concerned with the public relations aspect of this because people do jump to conclusions,'' Sosne said. ``Our teachers and administrators are trying to prove to parents that their children are being prepared for what lies ahead. This score makes that a little tougher.''
Bertie County's Fairless said SAT scores are just one indication of a school system's performance and parents, and that just as colleges look at a variety of things to help predict an applicant's performance, the public should be very careful about judging a school system based solely on that test.
``It's just one indication,'' she said. ``We have to be very, very careful about making any kind of global judgment on one test score.'' ILLUSTRATION: SAT SCORES, 1994 and 1995
Graphic
[For a breakdown by county on SAT scores for 1994 and 1995, see
microfilm on page B3 of the North Carolina Edition of THE
VIRGINIAN-PILOT for this date.]
SOURCE: N.C. Department of Public Instruction
by CNB