Get Schooled

By Bruce R

February 2, 2005 01:19 PM | Link to this

How about limiting the SAT to those students who actually are going to college (and need it). Why dilute the scores with those high school students who could care less about college! Limit those taking the test. We’re comparing our 25,000 student’s scores here with maybe 250-500 test takers in Minnesota and elsewhere… no wonder our scores are at the bottom!

By Laurie_Ann

February 2, 2005 01:48 PM | Link to this

Bruce, you are SOOO right! In New York, only those who were serious about college took the SATs. They discouraged those who hadn’t taken upper level math or science courses, and had no true interest.

By Sherri

February 2, 2005 02:30 PM | Link to this

Am I the only one who think it is utterly ridiculous that Perdue is trying to spend a million dollars for something that students can get for free at any library? Sonny, how about directing some of this money to the college budgets you’ve been slashing so that we’ll actually want to stay in Georgia for college?

By Henry

February 2, 2005 04:26 PM | Link to this

Personally, i think the more we do to encourage all people to further their education is the best route. I am one of the few that was not high in science and math, (from SC), but was encouraged to take the PSAT and the SAT. After taking the the test, I no longer feared the test and actually did extremely well. This sounds like one of the smartest things our governor has done.

By Ernest

February 3, 2005 10:06 AM | Link to this

I think this is a positive step that goes a long way to leveling the playing field. Those with the financial means or access to aids like this have used them for years, to help boost their scores. Now, someone in South GA. that does not live near a Kaplan center or have sufficient materials in their library can have access to this.

All know it is not fair that GA’s SAT scores are compared to other states, for a variety of reasons. Fact is, this is being done and it impacts our ability to attract businesses to the state. My only concern is if students do not take advantage of this and the scores remain flat. This will perhaps open the door for more choice options and possible vouchers.

By Jennifer

February 3, 2005 10:20 AM | Link to this

Perdue could accomplish the same effect, especially since his proposal is for online aids, by simply sending a memo to the principals of Georgia’s high schools so that they can spread the word to their students about the free practice tests.

No wonder we have no money—such waste! A million here, a million there—when will politicians see it as real money?

By Jennifer

February 3, 2005 10:38 AM | Link to this

I think this is a waste of money. School and public libraries already have practice test books and most schools already offer some sort of SAT prep. Perdue is just trying to make Georgia education look good on the surface instead of fixing the real problems; the lack of certified teachers in most of our schools, class sizes, absurd special education requirements and the awful GHSGT.

Although the average score of Georgia’s students on the SAT may be low, look at the skyrocketing average scores of incoming freshmen at UGA, Georgia Tech, Georgia State and other universities and colleges around the state. Something must be right somewhere since those scores are continuously on the rise. Many of the students dragging down the state average have no business thinking about college yet. These are the students that have failed multiple classes and have very, very low GPAs. The SAT is supposed to be a predictor of college success. The academic records of these students already show what their SAT scores confirm. Unfortunately, someone, somewhere told these students they need to take the SAT and go to college because everyone in America is supposed to go to college. No one is brave enough to tell parents not everyone is cut out for college. In other countries, students take tests to go on to the next level. Imagine if that was the case in the United States? By eliminating the bottom half of the bell curve, our scores would miraculously increase!

I also noticed no one mentioned the fact that students that receive free or reduced lunch are allowed a fee waiver and take the test for free. If students do not have an investment in the test itself, especially if they do not have to pay the $41.50 registration fee, there is no incentive to do well or even study. There is a prevalent attitude of “I can always take it again!”

By Ernest

February 3, 2005 12:06 PM | Link to this

You left out one of the problems, lack of parental involvement for many of our students. I would then ask another question, what obligation do we have as a community to help students who are trying to help themselves in spite of their home situation. This money is peanuts compare to what the state spends on some programs. I see this as an small investment that could potential have a high yield. There has to be an ‘awareness’ program that goes along with this, to make sure everyone knows about this offering. Kaplan and other centers are successful because they teach people how to be successful on the test not necessarily how to succeed in college.

I’m not sure if I want to make the decision whether someone should or should not try to go to college. Maybe we should attempt to strengthen our Vo-Tech offering in high schools. Labor costs are cheaper overseas so unless we can demonstrate we have a more educated workforce, we’ll continue to hear that ‘sucking’ sound Ross Perot talked about years ago.

By Klonde L.

February 3, 2005 12:38 PM | Link to this

Many high school students could not care less if the SAT is free or not. They are not usually the ones footing the bill. As Bruce stated, this should be available to college students - those who are bound to highering their education. ‘With great effort comes better scores and higher averages’- something that many HS students have not come to understand yet.

By Ernest

February 3, 2005 01:03 PM | Link to this

How our state is perceived from an education standpoint by the rest of the country is important to me. Why, I’m not sure, but it is. To make our state scores look better, we could use the approach some other states use, not provide a ‘school code’ to test takers. I understood several Augusta schools did this also. Those scores go to an ‘unknown’ school however I’m not sure if it is factored into the states overall score.

Who out there wants to decide who can take the test and who can’t?

By Tammy

February 3, 2005 01:17 PM | Link to this

Bruce.. You are on the money. It is a number game. We look bad because we have more kids taking the test, who could care less about what they are doing to our average. You can not compare us to other states who have half the amount of kids taking the test and say they are smarter than the kids in GA.

By Manny T

February 3, 2005 04:36 PM | Link to this

For most students, good SAT prep can help their scores. However, bad SAT prep just confuses them. PBS did a very good program on SAT prep in 2001 [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/sats/] I am skeptical that less than $20/student (based on 58,000 GA SAT takers from article) will have major impact. It does allow politicians to say they are doing something (but not much.) The free sources are a good way to estimate your score levels on the test. The best long term help from a statewide perspective requires the students to get better at the fundamentals of reading, writing, mathematics and the reasoning skills to apply the basics in different ways. If we integrate these things into the curriculum, the SAT scores will work themselves out.

I do not buy the propaganda about the non college bound students polluting the data. Widespread SAT taking may have an effect, but it is not the root of our problem! The average GPA for the 45,000 Georgia students that reported it in the 2003 SAT Profile of College bound seniors was 3.28. Maybe less grade inflation to get that HOPE scholarship would provide a more honest view of how our kids are doing in school. Data from the College Board breaks out SAT results by grade, gender, years of study for specific subjects, etc. If the data supporting this point was strong (vs. anecdotal) I would expect the fine folks of the State Dept. of Education to present the statistics in a manner that properly showed our college bound students are doing well on the SAT. What most people in the know do not say is that the SAT is often not used as intended. See Fairtest website [http://www.fairtest.org/facts/satfact.htm] if you want to understand some of the many flaws with the SAT.

The difference between our low SAT average and the middle of the pack would be eliminated if our students got 1 more question correct in each section of the (old SAT). That is not a huge gap. When you combine SAT scores with information about the difficulty many students have trying to keep their HOPE scholarships once they get to college, maybe our focus is too little too late in high school. Fundamentals from elementary and middle school set the stage for all of those advanced courses.

By Manny T

February 3, 2005 04:56 PM | Link to this

PSâ€â€?It is a big mistake to make a correlation between getting free lunches and test waivers and not caring about the SAT. The data only includes the last time you took the test, so kids with waivers have the same effect as rich kids that each take the test 10 times—one score per person.

There is a data correlation between family income and SAT scores. While sociologists may have lots of reasons, my guess would be that the hurdle a kid has to overcome “to be better off than his/her parent” is very different based on family income. The difficulty for poor kids may lie in their prior life experiences. Some questions may have unexpected levels of difficulty that throw off the science that goes into creating a standardized test.

By Kimberly

February 4, 2005 09:02 AM | Link to this

I grew up in a very small town in Georgia, and attended the public high school. Fortunately, we had some TERRIFIC teachers and a school board who had vision for the future. We took an SAT prep class as part of our curriculum. The only cost the $20 or so for the book.
I don’t think $1 million needs to be spent on something that could be incorporated into the curriculum.

By Mike

February 4, 2005 12:05 PM | Link to this

Gov Sonny: The idea of a SAT prep class is ridiculous. We are not actually educating our children. Why not look at the SAT and design a curriculum that would actually be beneficial and educational for our children? Back in the day (1967), I took a 1435 home without the benefit of a prep test, but I guess I was actually educated (California) in grade and high school.