» SAT scores: School by school | 2014 district scores
SAT scores dipped in Georgia this year, with students scoring an average of 1445 in 2014, down from last year’s average score of 1452.
The overall national average for 2014 was 1497. Georgia’s mean score for critical reading was 488, math was 485 and writing was 472.
More Georgia students took the exam this year — 77 percent of Georgia seniors, a 2.1 percent increase compared to 2013. Georgia typically has one of the highest participation rates in the country.
“Do we want to see scores go up every year? Absolutely,” State School Superintendent Dr. John Barge said in a statement. “However, we know that as more Georgia students take the SAT, we will sometimes see slight decreases. The measures are in place to better prepare students for college and 21st-century careers and, by extension, the SAT. The gains in scores will come.”
SAT scores in many Georgia districts were status quo in 2014, with some exceptions such as DeKalb County where the average score declined by more than 100 points to 1228, an 8 percent drop.
The College Board, which administers the SAT, released the data Tuesday. The test is considered an indicator of college preparedness and consists of three portions: math, verbal and writing, each worth 800 points. A perfect score is 2400.
The number of DeKalb students who took the SAT during the 2013-14 school year increased by about 45 percent from the prior school year, from 3,864 to 5,635. The next largest increase in metro Atlanta was Gwinnett County, which had a 2 percent increase in the number of test takers. College Board officials and some experts have attributed declining scores nationally to the testing pool, which is growing and becoming more diverse.
Average SAT scores rose slightly in Atlanta to 1343 and Clayton County to 1278, while the scores took a minor dip in Gwinnett to 1505. The scores remained the same in the Cobb and Fulton districts at 1515 and 1567 respectively.
A list of the top-scoring schools with 100 or more test takers changed only slightly from last year. Kennesaw Mountain High in Cobb County and North Oconee High in Oconee County moved onto the top 20 list, displacing Wheeler High in Cobb and Chamblee High in DeKalb.
This year as last year, the Gwinnett School of Mathematics Science and Technology topped the list with a score of 1912, down five points from last year. Northview High in Fulton held the second-highest spot with a score of 1779, up six points from last year. Walton in Cobb was again third with 1724, a drop of 17 points.
Search scores for every school in the state at MyAJC.com.
About the Author
