Metro Atlanta high school average SAT scores for the class of 2013, with the percentage of the class that was in poverty, as determined by the federal qualifications for free and reduced-price meals. Only scores reported for schools where at least a fifth of seniors took the test are included here.
District School SATScore Poverty%
Gwinnett Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science and Technology 1917 34
Fulton Northview High School 1773 8
Cobb Walton High School 1741 7
Fulton Johns Creek High School 1707 7
Fulton Milton High School 1697 8
Cobb Pope High School 1680 11
Fulton Alpharetta High School 1672 12
Fulton Chattahoochee High School 1667 11
Fulton Roswell High School 1653 22
Cobb Wheeler High School 1651 46
Cobb Lassiter High School 1636 13
DeKalb Chamblee Charter High School 1619 42
Gwinnett North Gwinnett High School 1612 15
Gwinnett Brookwood High School 1612 28
DeKalb Lakeside High School 1602 41
DeKalb DeKalb School of the Arts 1581 29
Gwinnett Parkview High School 1578 39
Gwinnett Peachtree Ridge High School 1572 34
Cobb Kennesaw Mountain High School 1571 31
Cobb Harrison High School 1570 9
Fulton Centennial High School 1560 31
Fulton Riverwood International Charter School 1557 35
Fulton North Springs High School 1546 45
Gwinnett Mill Creek High School 1546 25
DeKalb Dunwoody High School 1540 30
Gwinnett Duluth High School 1537 55
Gwinnett Collins Hill High School 1532 41
Fulton Cambridge High School 1525 10
Atlanta Grady High School 1515 47
Gwinnett Norcross High School 1513 65
Cobb Kell High School 1507 33
Gwinnett Dacula High School 1499 44
Gwinnett Mountain View High School 1496 35
Cobb Allatoona High School 1485 23
Cobb Hillgrove High School 1479 22
Gwinnett Grayson High School 1470 37
Gwinnett Archer High School 1453 40
Cobb Sprayberry High School 1452 42
Gwinnett Lanier High School 1452 44
Atlanta North Atlanta High School 1441 52
Cobb North Cobb High School 1439 43
DeKalb Dekalb Early College Academy 1439 64
Cobb Campbell High School 1405 65
DeKalb Druid Hills High School 1400 54
Gwinnett Central Gwinnett High School 1388 75
Gwinnett Shiloh High School 1378 67
Atlanta Early College High School at Carver 1371 82
Fulton Independence Alternative School 1365 45
Gwinnett South Gwinnett High School 1357 65
Gwinnett Berkmar High School 1353 81
DeKalb Arabia Mountain High School - Academy of Engineering, Medicine and Environment 1346 47
Gwinnett Meadowcreek High School 1338 88
Cobb McEachern High School 1338 60
Atlanta South Atlanta Law and Social Justice School 1327 89
Fulton Westlake High School 1317 59
DeKalb Southwest DeKalb High School 1311 62
Cobb South Cobb High School 1307 74
DeKalb Cross Keys High School 1299 89
DeKalb Tucker High School 1291 62
Atlanta Mays High School 1290 79
Cobb Pebblebrook High School 1283 79
DeKalb Stephenson High School 1278 63
Fulton Tri-Cities High School 1267 81
DeKalb Redan High School 1249 78
Fulton Creekside High School 1243 78
Atlanta The School of the Arts at Carver 1237 92
Fulton Banneker High School 1233 85
Cobb Osborne High School 1232 82
DeKalb Columbia High School 1225 81
DeKalb Martin Luther King, Jr. High School 1224 70
DeKalb Stone Mountain High School 1220 85
Fulton Langston Hughes High School 1220 76
Atlanta School of Technology at Carver 1217 92
Atlanta Maynard H. Jackson, Jr. High School 1216 97
Atlanta South Atlanta School of Health and Medical Science 1211 95
Atlanta Booker T. Washington - Early College Small School 1199 100
DeKalb Miller Grove High School 1198 77
Atlanta South Atlanta School of Computer Animation and Design 1197 87
Fulton Hapeville Charter Career Academy 1183 75
DeKalb Cedar Grove High School 1177 75
Atlanta Therrell School of Law, Government and Public Policy 1174 83
DeKalb Clarkston High School 1173 89
DeKalb Towers High School 1164 82
DeKalb Lithonia High School 1161 81
Atlanta Douglass High School 1148 89
DeKalb McNair High School 1127 85
Atlanta Booker T. Washington High School - Banking, Finance and Investment Small Sc 1118 90
Atlanta Booker T. Washington High School - Health, Sciences and Nutrition Small Sch 1097 99
Anxious teenagers across Georgia who took the Scholastic Aptitude Test Saturday will earn scores that either open the door to a bright future or block the path to the college of their dreams.
The results for the metro Atlanta class of 2013 indicate that, despite its name, SAT scores are closely tied to a factor beyond any student’s aptitude: the amount of money their parents have. The average score for high schools in metro Atlanta’s five major school districts was closely tied to the level of poverty in those schools, an analysis by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution shows.
The newspaper matched high school average scores with an often-used index for poverty, the percentage of students eligible for federally subsidized school meals. The results were clear: The higher a school’s percentage of poor kids, the worse that school tended to perform on the SAT. Indeed, the data show a line no poor school could cross: None with two-thirds or more of its students in poverty was able to match or exceed the state average SAT score of 1452 out of a possible 2400.
Norcross High in Gwinnett County fared well despite a poverty rate that’s above district and state averages. However, Norcross’ success was strikingly uncommon.
Every school with a poverty rate over 80 percent scored below 1400. Every school with a poverty rate under 20 percent scored above 1500.
The AJC’s findings offer numerical support for arguments by critics who have long complained that the test predicts poverty as much as academic success.
“The correlation between SAT test scores and family income is stronger than the correlation between SAT scores and the thing it claims to predict: first-year college grades,” said Bob Schaeffer, public education director for Boston-based FairTest, a testing industry watchdog.
Officials at the College Board, the private company that administers the test, said poor students are at a disadvantage academically, a reality reflected in their SAT scores.
“Poverty has an impact on student achievement for obvious reasons,” said James Montoya, the College Board’s vice president for higher education.
Montoya said poor students are more likely to attend schools where rigorous academic coursework is not as available. Minority students, who are disproportionately poor, are also less likely to sign up for rigorous coursework such as Advanced Placement classes even if they have demonstrated the ability to handle that work.
“We have to make sure those students who are demonstrating ability are given an opportunity to enroll in classes that are rigorous,” Montoya said.
While The AJC found a strong, consistent link between poverty and poor performance on the SAT, one school stood out.
Even with 65 percent of its students eligible for free or reduced-priced meals, Norcross High in Gwinnett County had an average score of 1513, placing it among the top third of metro Atlanta schools.
School officials say Norcross has a long-standing tradition and culture — they call it the “Norcross way” — that has helped to relax poverty’s grip on outcomes on the make-or-break test.
“Our teachers are a special group,” said Pat Dudley, an assistant principal at Norcross, where about three-quarters of the class of 2013 took the SAT. “They teach like kids can learn. It’s just part of the culture of the school.”
Several of the school’s top students said teachers push kids to excel regardless of students’ background. Lorenzo Carter, 17, transferred there from a high-poverty high school in southwest Atlanta.
The star athlete said he was confronted by demanding teachers.
“It’s a totally different world coming here,” he said. “The teachers just push you to be great.”
Carter has taken the SAT and says his score, with athletic scholarships, will get him into the college of his choice. He is among a cadre of high performers selected to tutor and mentor other kids at Norcross High. He said he now pushes other teenagers “to be their best, because some of them accept mediocrity.”
Darrell Cicchetti, an English teacher, has taught elsewhere and said Norcross has comparatively high standards. In other schools, he said high performers were steered into Advanced Placement courses while the rest were idled in less challenging classrooms that were “almost like a holding cell.”
Cicchetti speculated that the school’s mix of wealth and poverty – some kids come from fancy homes, others from rundown apartments — buttressed a demanding culture and high expectations. “If a school has always been completely low, maybe the expectations are low,” he said. “I think having two extremes has probably been an asset here.”
Sean O’Connor, another English teacher, said the school also has long-standing traditions that bolster teacher quality. Consider “sacred Wednesdays.”
Every week, teachers gather for an hour without phone calls or visits from students or parents. They discuss their work, and there is enough trust to share their failures. Anyone with a lesson that bombed will hear plenty of suggestions for improvements, O’Connor said. These sessions also help level walls between disciplines so teachers can coordinate lessons, he said.
These teachers said the school benefits from stability. Perhaps due to morale, the turnover is low and there is a deep bench of teachers who’ve been around for decades. They’ve helped to maintain the culture. When new staffers – and for that matter, new students — come, they are absorbed and quickly indoctrinated into what teacher Tracey Mason called the “Norcross way.”
Norcross stands as a a rare exception to the relationship between poverty and test outcomes. Only one other school with more than half its students in poverty — Duluth High, also in Gwinnett — managed to beat the state’s average score.
The link between poverty and poor SAT performance was not a surprise to many colleges and universities in Georgia, though most still insist that students submit an SAT or ACT score as they apply for admission. Officials at the University of Georgia, Georgia State University and Kennesaw State University all said they use the score in conjunction with grade-point average to make admissions decisions.
FairTest said more and more schools across the country are becoming “test-optional,” meaning applicants can choose whether or not to submit a score from the SAT or the ACT when applying for admission.
Agnes Scott College in Decatur became test-optional in 2010.
“It was really a faculty-led decision,” said Laura Martin, Agnes Scott’s vice president for enrollment and its dean of admissions and financial aid. “The faculty was really concerned about access.”
About 30 percent of Agnes Scott’s 900 students were admitted without providing a test score, Martin said.
She added that those who did not provide test scores came from families with a lower household income than those who did submit scores. Those students also tended to have lower GPAs after their first year. But by the second semester of their sophomore year, Martin said, the students who did not submit test scores have caught up to those who did submit scores.
In 2010, minorities made up 47 percent of Agnes Scott’s incoming freshmen, data from the school showed. This year, minorities accounted for 55 percent of the incoming class.
Agnes Scott’s faculty has assessed being test-optional and decided to continue de-emphasizing the test.
“It is doing what we wanted, which was to provide more access to students,” Martin said.
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