August 29, 2007- For Immediate Release
Columbia County Schools – 4781 Hereford Farm Road, Evans, GA 308092
For more information contact 706-541-2723 ext. 5232

Columbia County SAT Results Reported

Math and Reading Scores Show Improvement

Columbia County’s senior class of 2007 scored higher than the state average for the SAT test for college readiness, and slightly higher than the national average as reported by CollegeBoard. Despite the slight decline in writing, Columbia County students scored higher than last year in math and critical reading.

“When more students are tested, it’s to be expected to see a slight drop in scores. In Columbia County, we had 47 more students take the SAT this year and we still showed improvement over the national and state averages. That is something to be very proud of,” said Charles Nagle, Superintendent of Schools.

The revised SAT was given for the first time in March 2006 and included changes to the Verbal and Math sections of the test. The new SAT features the addition of a writing section where students are asked to write an essay that requires them to take a position on an issue and use reasoning and examples to support their position.

The new SAT Math section includes topics from third-year college preparatory math and Algebra II, such as exponential growth, absolute value, functional notation, and negative and fractional components. Quantitative comparisons from the previous SAT have been eliminated.

SAT Highlights

Each section is scored within a range of 200-800 points, combining for a total of 2400 rather than 1600.

• Columbia County’s average composite score is 1513 (up one point from 2006), a combination of critical reading score of 505 (up two points), the average math score of 518 (up four points), and the average writing score of 490 (down five points).
• Columbia County’s total SAT average is two points above the national average of 1511.
• Columbia County’s total SAT average is 41 points above the Georgia average of 1472.
• Columbia County’s average math score of 518 is 23 points above the Georgia average of 495.
• Columbia County’s top 10% have an average composite score of 1785 (592-critical reading, 615-math, 578-writing).
• A higher percentage of students take the SAT in Columbia County than in the state. Preliminary figures indicate that approximately 73% of CCBOE seniors took the SAT compared to 48% nationally and 69% statewide.

Measures to improve SAT scores

Many factors affect SAT from year to year, including the percentage of students taking the test (scores tend to fall as percentages rise) academic courses studied in high school, family background, and education of parents. Research shows that students who take more rigorous courses, such as Advanced Placement courses and Honors classes, usually score higher on the SAT. Additional measures such as:

• PSAT testing in grades 10 and 11 provide students a way to strengthen their preparation before they take the test.
• SAT preparation classes are offered to public high school students as an elective high school course, or students can obtain a passcode from the guidance counselor to access the Online SAT Prep Course (http://www.satonlinecourseschool.com/).
• The new Georgia Performance Standards (GPS) for English/Language Arts have been restructured to enhance students’ critical reading and inferential skills.
• The new Georgia Performance Standards (GPS) for writing have been restructured to enhance students’ critical persuasive writing skills relative to Ideas, Organization, Style, and Conventions.
• The new Georgia Performance Standards (GPS) for Math has been rolled out in middle school grades and will be introduced to 9th graders for the first time next school year. The high school curriculum will be phased in one grade at a time until 2012. For more information on the new math curriculum, go to www.georgiastandards.org.

Click here for a summary of the system and school results.

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