State SAT scores drop for 3rd year

By Nancy Badertscher

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgia’s scores on the SAT college entrance exam tumbled for a third straight year, falling an average of six points, it was announced Tuesday.

A smaller drop was reported nationally as a record 1.53 million students put their math, reading and writing skills to the test on the SAT.

The College Board, which administers the exam, released data at 11 a.m. Tuesday, showing that scores for Georgia’s public, private and home school students averaged 1,460, down from 1,466 in 2008.

The national average was 1,509, down two points from the previous year. A perfect score is 2400, or 800 in the three categories of critical reading, math and writing.

State Schools Superintendent Kathy Cox said in a prepared statement issued in conjunction with the release of the test scores: “Clearly, we must maintain -- and expand -- our commitment to providing all students a world-class education.”

She focused on one bright spot in the numbers: the success of minority students in Georgia public schools.

For example, African-American students in the state’s public schools scored 1,274, 10 points higher than the national average for African-American students of 1,264.

Last year, the average SAT score in Georgia was 1,466, down from 1,472 in 2007. Only Maine, Hawaii, South Carolina and Washington, D.C., had lower scores in 2008.