Fulton schools second highest in SAT scores

Fulton County high school students had the second highest SAT average in the state, according to test results released by the Georgia Department of Education Tuesday.

Fulton was second only to Trion City Schools, a small district with about 1,350 students total in Chattooga County north of Rome. The district has just one high school — Trion High.

“I’m happy we’re a one high school system so we can be No. 1,” Principal Phil Williams joked Wednesday. “We had a very bright group of kids who took the test. I think our scores will always be high but I don’t know if we’ll pull off these scores again next year.”

Trion High earned an average score of 1625, thanks to a strong performance from 23 students. Fulton averaged 1593 on the test and had 3,973 kids take the test. A perfect score is 2400.

Scores from seven of the 15 Fulton County high schools were in the state’s top 20, with Northview High, in Johns Creek, coming in highest at No. 3. Davidson Magnet in Richmond County and Walton High in Cobb were first and second, respectively.

Peter Zervakos said Northview’s secret is preparation. He said there are nearly 300 students enrolled in a nine-week class geared toward SAT reading, vocabulary and math.

“We find that this class not only helps with the SAT, but with overall achievement as well,” he said.

Northview also earned the highest average math score in the state.

Roswell High, No. 5 in the state, garnered the second highest writing score, behind Davidson Magnet in Richmond County.

“That really speaks well for us,” said Edward J. Spurka, the school’s principal. “And our key to success is academic focus.”

Students respond to teachers who take an interest in them, he said. “We really run with the philosophy that the kids don’t care how much we know until they know how much we care.”

School officials say several schools reported increases in their overall scores. In South Fulton, Tri-Cities High School and McClarin High School both increased their scores by 37 points, while Westlake High School rose eight points and Creekside High School rose five points.

In North Fulton, Milton High School increased 26 points and Chattahoochee High School rose 13 points, while Alpharetta High School increased 11 points. Riverwood High School’s score increased four points.

“These bigger high schools deserve a lot of credit,” said WIlliams, the principal of Trion High. “When you have as many kids as they do and you get scores that high, you know the schools are doing something right.”

Of course, being a small school gave Williams some advantages.

The district’s three schools — which include Trion Elementary and Trion Middle — are on the same campus and share a cafeteria. By the time students get to high school the teachers and Williams know the kids’ strengths and weaknesses.

That knowledge allowed teachers and guidance counselors to steer students to which college admissions test they would do better on, so about 25 students took the ACT instead, Williams said.

The school also offers SAT prep classes during the school day and expanded the number of college-level Advanced Placement classes students take. The school has about 350 kids so students take some AP classes online through the state’s virtual high school, Williams said.

Another big change: Trion High became a SAT testing site. Students used to drive about an hour to find a place where they could take the exam.

— Staff Writer Laura Diamond contributed to this article.