SAT scores released Aug. 26 by the New York-based College Board showed positive trends for Fulton County and Atlanta public school students overall, though not for each high school.
Fulton’s scores were the highest in the Atlanta area, and Sandy Springs’ Riverwood High School ranked 19th in a list of Georgia’s 20 highest-scoring schools. Riverwood’s class of 2008 scored an average of 1616 out of 2400, up four points from the class of 2007.
North Springs Charter High School for Arts and Science, however, saw its average fall from 1649 in 2007, eighth-best in the state, to a 2008 average of 1570.
That put North Springs well below the Fulton average of 1593, which was up four points from 2007. The national average this year was 1511; the state average was 1466.
Superintendent Cindy Loe was pleased by Fulton’s improvement. “It shows that our schools are preparing students for academic success beyond high school,” she said. “Many of our schools have increased their scores, and we’re studying their best practices to see how others might benefit.”
While the percentage of students taking the SAT nationwide decreased from 48 percent to 45 percent, the portion of Fulton students taking the test remained at 83 percent.
In Atlanta, the average score this year was 1300, up seven points from 2007. Buckhead’s North Atlanta High School posted an average of 1378, compared with 1380 in 2007.
Superintendent Beverly Hall said: “We are pleased that our students’ SAT scores showed improvement. However, we are very aware that we have significant challenges.”
As a whole, Georgia’s average score of 1466 was a six-point drop from 2007, causing the state to slip one position to 47th in the nation.