SAT scores to be released

Submitted by ErinnMcGuire on Tue, 08/26/2008 - 10:00am.

COLUMBIA (AP) - Education officials are finding out how high school students did on the SAT college entrance exam.

Results were set for release nationwide at 11 a.m. Tuesday.

South Carolina's graduating seniors scored an average math and reading total of 984 last year. That was 33 points below the national average of 1,017.

South Carolina's combined score ranked 49th nationally last year, ahead of Maine and the District of Columbia.

The College Board, which owns the test, discourages state-by-state comparisons because the percentage of students who take the test vary widely. Participation is open to all students in South Carolina. More than 60 percent of the state's graduating seniors took the test last year.

SAT scores for Jasper County

Submitted by ErinnMcGuire on Tue, 08/26/2008 - 10:29am.

Test results for Jasper County:

2007: 43 test takers
2008: 34 test takers

2007 scores

Reading: 397
Math: 404
Writing: 400

2008 scores

Reading: 410
Math: 409
Writing: 411

COLUMBIA – South Carolina high school seniors in the Class of 2008 raised their average SAT scores by two points, the College Board said today.

Seniors continued a dramatic improvement trend on college Advanced Placement exams.

South Carolina seniors’ average composite score for critical reading, math and writing was 1,461, up two points from 2007.

In Jasper County, the average composite score was 1,231, up 30 points from 2007.

The national average stayed at 1,511.

Critical reading was 488, math was 497 and writing was 476, compared to national averages of 502, 515 and 494.

State Superintendent of Education Jim Rex said that although African-American students continued to make major strides in closing the “achievement gap” with white students on Advanced Placement tests, the gap widened on 2008’s SAT results.

“It’s vital that we get a grip on this,” Rex said. “We need to replicate these dramatic AP achievement gap successes in other areas.

We need to focus on approaching every class the way we’re approaching AP classes – with quality teachers, top-notch teacher training, clearly understood goals and high expectations for kids.”

In the last five years, the number of AP exams taken by South Carolina African-American students increased from 1,545 to 2,258, an increase of 46 percent.

The number of African-American students scoring high enough to earn college credit increased during that same period from 496 to 620, a 25 percent increase.

In 2008 alone, the number of South Carolina African-American students who took AP tests increased by 11 percent, and the number whose scores qualified for college credit increased by 5 percent.

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