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Tuesday, August 30, 2005
SAT Results: Shame on Georgia and the U.S.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia’s tied with South Carolina for last place on SAT averages this year, but that isn’t a fact that strikes me any more. We’ve been swapping places with S.C. for years. This year, both states averaged 993. For Georgia, that’s a six-point improvement over last year, though far below the national average of 1028.
No state did worse than us in math (though bear in mind that students in states such as Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee favor the rival ACT). Three states - South Carolina, Texas and Hawaii - did worse than us on verbal. (Texas miracle, anyone?)
What grabbed me by the throat in this data, released this morning by the College Board, overseer of the SAT, is the striking disparity between black and white students. This is not a new problem, but in the past I’ve been more fixated on Georgia’s overall score relative to other states with similar participation. (75 percent in Georgia)
This year, Georgia’s black students averaged 864 on the SAT, which is the same as the national average. White students averaged 1044, which is less than the national average of 1068. Hmmmm…
Far as I’m concerned, the poor performance of African-American students, in Georgia and nationally is way more disturbing than our state being tied for last place. Consider the African-American average in a vacuum: 864. Half the kids scores worse than that. How many of those kids are going to make it through their freshman year?
Thoughts?
