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Monday, August 27, 2007
SAT Rankings: Make Your Bets
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Well, it’s started.
The editors have gotten all twitchy, as they do every year, when the annual SAT scores are about to be released: When are they coming? When can we post something online? What’ll the story say?
About the only thing we know for sure at this point is that the College Board will release states’ average SAT scores tomorrow morning.
You may recall that last year Gov. Sonny Perdue, in the midst of a heated re-election campaign, positively glowed when he announced Georgia’s new national showing — a whopping 46th place, up from 50th the year before.
The governor called the well-timed news “fantastic.”
I don’t think there’s another state out there where elected leaders are as transfixed by SAT rankings. But I suppose that obsession comes with the last-place territory.
A couple years ago I wrote about this uniquely Georgian phenomenon. Assessment experts at the College Board and elsewhere warn repeatedly that state-to-state comparisons of average SAT scores are not scientifically valid. Yet, every year, we report where Georgia ranks against other states.
Why? Because it’s what the politicians focus on and it’s what the public wants.
So this year I’m embracing the annual SAT frenzy and betting that the Peach State’s ranking will decline.
Anyone care to bet against me?
