ATLANTA – College admission test scores in SREB states generally have improved over the past decade, but average scores in many states still have not reached national averages and gaps persists among average scores for various groups of students, concludes a new Southern Regional Education Board report.
Improving ACT and SAT Scores: Making Progress, Facing Challenges, released today by SREB, analyzes 10 years of test-score data and trends in across the region.
“Students throughout the region are raising average ACT and SAT scores over time. It is good news that more students are taking the exams and preparing for college. Still, many states have a way to go to meet the national averages. We must help traditionally undereducated groups of students raise their scores in substantially higher numbers than ever before,” said SREB President Dave Spence.
Virginia is the only SREB state with an average 2006 score that topped the national average on its dominant test, the SAT. (For the SAT, the report looked at changes in reading and math scores only. A writing section that was added to the SAT in 2006 is too recent to indicate a trend.) Eight other SREB states narrowed gaps in 2006 between average scores and the national averages.
Six ACT-dominant states — Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and West Virginia, and four SAT-dominant states — Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia — kept pace or gained ground on the national average for their dominant test from 1997 to 2006.
Two ACT-dominant states — Alabama and Mississippi — and one SAT-dominant state, Florida, increased the percentage of high school seniors tested by at least 10 percentage points from 1997 to 2006.
All major racial/ethnic groups of students — black, Hispanic and white students — improved their average composite scores on the dominant test in seven SREB states from 1997 to 2006: Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. White students improved their average scores in every SREB state except Florida and Oklahoma. Average scores declined for both black and Hispanic students in four SREB states: Delaware, Florida, Maryland and Oklahoma.
Significantly more black and Hispanic students took the ACT and SAT in SREB states in 2006 than in 1997, the report shows. Eight states doubled the number of Hispanic students taking college admission tests during that span. Thirteen states had increases of 20 percent or more in the number of black students tested. Seven states had increases of 20 percent or more in the number of white students tested.
Gains in average ACT and SAT scores for black and Hispanic students did not keep pace with the gains for white students in most SREB states from 1997 to 2006.
The report urges SREB states to improve efforts to help all students take the rigorous high school courses they need to ensure higher SAT and ACT scores and to prepare for college and the workplace. States also should step up efforts to support students who seek access to college, especially from groups who historically have had limited access.
The report also asserts that SREB states need to develop reading, writing and mathematics standards that signal what it means for students to be well-prepared for college and careers. States should embed such standards into high school curricula and adjust high school tests to measure students’ progress on meeting the standards. States should provide classroom teachers with extensive training on the higher standards and find ways to help struggling students meet the standards. This process could reduce the need for remedial courses in college, improve high school and college graduation rates, and raise the educational levels of people throughout the region.
For more information about your state’s progress on the SAT or ACT, or to learn more about the need for increased college readiness and other policy issues, please contact SREB Communications.
SREB, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization based in Atlanta, Georgia, advises state education leaders on ways to improve education. SREB was created in 1948 by Southern governors and legislatures to help leaders in education and government work cooperatively to advance education and improve the social and economic life of the region. SREB has 16 member states: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. Each is represented by its governor and four gubernatorial appointees.
