LAUSD SAT SCORES GO DOWN IN MATH AND WRITING

LA Daily News

smf: My reaction to this data (remember: data is neither information nor knowledge!) is complicated.

1. The SAT is a purely optional test, run by a private entity. While it counts for most (but not all) college admissions it is not part of the bank of "standardized tests" that "count" to the beancounters and scorekeepers in D.C. and Sacramento.
2. With the A-G Every Child College Prep" thinking in the ascendant - driving the wheels on the bus - these results are not good.
3. To college-bound high school seniors the STAR test (which does count to the beancounters in #1) the SAT is all important - and the STAR test unimportant. Perhaps we adults need to align our goals with those of students?

 

August 27, 2008 - Los Angeles Unified School District students' college application scores continue to lag behind national and state averages, according to results released today.

While the number of Los Angeles Unified students taking the SAT Reasoning Test has grown by about 1,000 students each year for the past five years, not quite half of last year's 36,000 high school seniors took the test.

Reading scores held steady at 438, but math and writing scores dropped from last year's levels.

In California, the average was 499 in reading, 515 in math and 498 in writing. The national average was 502 in reading, 515 in math and 494 in writing.

The LAUSD Class of 2008's average was 438 in math, compared with 443 in math scored by the previous year's senior class.

In writing, LAUSD's Class of 2008 averaged 440, down one point from the average of the previous class.

Each section of the test is graded on a scale of up to 800 points.