DATE: Friday, March 7, 1997                 TAG: 9703060296

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Education 

SOURCE: BY MATTHEW BOWERS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:  104 lines

A RISE IN SAT SCORES DOESN'T TELL WHOLE STORY, EXPERT SAY. SUFFOLK OFFICALS BELIEVE TEST IS ONLY ONE WAY TO JUDGE STUDENTS.

Overall SAT scores shot up this past year for the city's public schoolchildren, but you couldn't tell at 524 N. Main St.

No cartwheels there at the school system's central office. No confetti, either. And not just because those school administrators are such dignified professionals.

While pleased with the score increases, they'll say the Scholastic Assessment Test - the country's most widely known college admissions test, used to predict higher-education success - is just one measure of students' abilities and achievements, and not even the best one for all students.

They'll note that the tests were ``recentered'' or calibrated in 1995 based on a new, lower norm, so virtually all scores increased.

They'll acknowledge that Suffolk's demographics are changing with the influx of new, middle-class-and-higher suburbs, particularly in the northern part of the city. Suffolk hasn't analyzed this yet, but test scores historically parallel family income, so a more affluent neighborhood or city can expect to see higher scores compared to less affluent ones.

What Suffolk school folks won't say directly - though other educators will, and have - is that the community, including the news media, makes too much of SAT scores, and too often uses them to make incomplete, unfair comparisons between schools and school divisions.

Take it all together, and it's a ho-hum reaction in Suffolk to a one-year increase in 1995-96 of 71 points in the verbal score, to 450, and 43 points in the math score, to 436.

This comes after several years of only incremental increases in both scores, even though more students are taking the test in Suffolk, a fact that in most cases tends to depress scores because it means more students with marginal chances at college are taking it.

The SATs are scored on a scale of 200 to 800 for each section, with 500 - or a 1,000 aggregate score - considered ``average.'' Virginia overall in 1995-96 scored 507 on verbal and 496 on math; the United States' average scores were 505 verbal and 508 math, according to The College Board, which provides the test.

The SATs and other standardized, mostly multiple-choice tests don't always shed light on a child's critical-thinking skills or problem-solving abilities, the real-life tasks for which the schools ultimately are preparing their students, said Melinda J. Boone, coordinator of pupil personnel services and testing for the Suffolk Public Schools.

That's been the knock for years by critics inside and outside the education profession. They've disagreed with other critics who decry recent drops in average SAT scores, contending that the tests aren't a true reflection of students' capabilities, that relying on them penalizes otherwise good students who freeze up on big tests, that the questions reflect cultural biases that hurt the scores of ethnic minorities, and on and on.

Even educators who value the tests for the feedback they provide about their programs and teaching practices cringe when scores are used to compare or rate schools and school systems. Too many variables affect the scores, they say, such as socioeconomic status and the numbers taking the tests. The College Board reminds that in some states a smaller percentage traditionally takes the test and so tends to score higher overall.

The old SAT norm was based on a pool of some 10,000 mostly private high-school seniors applying to the top colleges in 1941. Today's test-takers - such as those in Suffolk - are not just more numerous but much more diverse, evidenced by the continued rise in college applications nationwide, Suffolk's Boone said. Not all take the advanced courses that help prepare for college; not all are necessarily serious about college.

Boone and her fellow educators are more interested in the success of their students once in college, so they're more concerned about the courses they're taking ahead of time to get ready, and with providing a more challenging curriculum, Boone said.

Still, they're also offering for free to sophomores the Preliminary Scholastic Assessment Test, or PSAT, to help students gain experience on such tests and have introduced it in the middle schools as an option for which parents can pay.

``It's not just important what you know, but it's important that you be able to show it,'' Boone said.

Parents agree. The scores - their children's individual ones, not the citywide scores - are still important to them for at least two tangible reasons: college admission and scholarships. Too many wait too late to care, though, says one parent.

``Parents really don't realize about SATs until they get a junior'' in high school, said Ellis F. Temple, president of the Suffolk PTA Council, who has a son in college.

Because of the test's potential impact on students' futures, he said he'd like to see Suffolk offer SAT preparatory courses, as Chesapeake's Western Branch High School does. Temple obtained one on his own for his college-bound son, and it helped, he said.

``I paid $70 to gather 200 points on the SAT,'' Temple said. ``Sometimes a point on the SAT is worth $5'' in scholarship money.

However imperfect, SATs remain the common denominator for most college-selection practices, and ``that's why they're still so important,'' Temple said.

Still, the Suffolk schools' Boone said parents should keep the scores - individuals', schools' and school divisions' - in perspective.

``I think parents should look at the whole student, and not just how they did on one test.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

Source: Suffolk School District

Suffolk SAT Scores

For complete copy, see microfilm KEYWORDS: SUFFOLK SCHOOLS SAT SCORES STANDARDIZED TEST

TEST SCORES RESULTS

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