County SAT Scores Fall by 13 Points

A dramatic drop in the 1990 performance by San Diego County high school students on the Scholastic Aptitude Test has left educators surprised and disappointed.

Figures being released today show the average total score in San Diego County fell to 911 this year from 924 in 1989, a 13-point decline for the 8,096 students who took the test.

The decline wipes out a 12-point gain built up since 1983, when school improvement efforts got under way in a major fashion, both locally and nationally. The statewide average fell 3 points to 903, and the national average also dropped 3 points to 900.

“There is no way around it--school board members and educators are going to find these scores disappointing, particularly in light of the steady growth made in recent years,” Tom Boysen, superintendent of the County Office of Education said Monday.

“We’re hoping that this drop is just a one-year glitch, and that the scores will bounce back in 1991.”

The SAT is a three-hour, multiple-choice test designed to measure a student’s verbal and mathematical preparation for college.

The highest possible score is 1,600--800 each on the verbal and mathematical sections.

In San Diego County, verbal scores dropped nine points, to 423 from 432. Statewide, they dropped to 419 from 422 and nationally to 424 from 427. In the San Diego Unified School District, the nation’s eighth-largest urban system, the average verbal score of 2,914 students dropped six points to 413.

Math scores countywide fell four points, to 488 from 492, state scores remained steady at 484 and national scores unchanged at 476. In the city district, the average math score dropped two points, to 483.

Boysen said the results are particularly puzzling in light of strong gains recorded this year by county high school seniors on the state’s California Assessment Program (CAP) tests in reading, math and writing.

“We need to get a better fix on the relationship between the skills tested on the SAT and CAP tests, so students can be better prepared for both,” Boysen said.

The two tests take different approaches: In contrast to the SAT’s multiple-choice format, the CAP tests increasingly have relied on written essays and evidence of how math problems are solved. SAT administrators announced plans last week to move their tests in the same direction, as a better way to gauge abilities.

Even so, Boysen said, county schools must continue to improve curriculum. He pointed out that the SAT verbal section emphasizes vocabulary, knowledge that any good curriculum should provide.

“Students who have mastered a large vocabulary will do well on the verbal portion,” he said. “Vocabulary development is one of the products of a rich, challenging curriculum; a curriculum that requires students to read and write frequently, and at increasing levels of complexity.”

That view was echoed Monday in comments by Donald M. Stewart, president of the College Board, which oversees the SAT.

“The verbal decline (nationally) this year is disturbing but not particularly surprising,” Stewart said. “It is also the second recent signal that the verbal skills of many American students are weak enough to seriously hamper their future opportunities, in school and college and the world of work.”

An earlier report this spring from the National Assessment of Educational Progress found that students at all grade levels spend little time reading or writing, whether in or out of school.

“Students must pay less attention to video games and music videos and begin to read more,” Stewart said. “Reading is in danger of becoming a ‘lost art’ among too many American students--and that would be a national tragedy.”

Boysen did find some encouraging signs in the county scores.

The number of county students who took the test rose 31.3% from 1983 to 1990, yet overall scores are only down one point in that period. Boysen cited research that says that a 1% increase in the number of test-takers usually brings a two-point drop in scores because a larger number of test-takers means those students with lower grade-point averages are participating.

The total number of high school seniors in the county has risen about 4% during the same period. In San Diego city schools, more than half the district’s 5,686 seniors took the SAT in 1990, compared to 48% the previous year, when the district had 6,020 seniors.

“Our scores are down one point since 1983, not the 62 points” the research would predict, Boysen said.

Statewide, between 1983 and 1990, the number of students taking the SAT rose 12%. Nationally, the figure was 6.5%.

Among county scores, those of Asian students rose 11 points in 1990, and those of black students rose four points. But scores of white students dropped 12 points and those of Latino students declined 25 points.

Minority students account for 43% of all county students taking the SAT, contrasted with 27% nationwide.

Many colleges and universities use the test results as a measure of a student’s potential for doing satisfactory work at their institutions, and athletes must score a minimum of 700 to participate in intercollegiate sports.

Critics for years have said that the SAT is biased against women and minorities because scores of those two groups have remained below those of white males. The College Board has argued that socioeconomic background of students and wide disparities in educational preparation, not the test itself, explain much of the score gaps regarding minorities and women.

“Many factors play a role in a student’s test performance, but those students who take more challenging courses tend to do better on the test,” Robert G. Cameron, executive director of research and development, said Monday. “Of course, students should not assume that simply taking an advanced academic course will guarantee a higher score on the SAT--but the odds are in their favor.”

HOW SAN DIEGO COUNTY SAT SCORES COMPARE VERBAL SCORES

County State National Average Average Average 1983 429 421 425 1984 429 421 426 1985 431 424 431 1986 429 423 431 1987 430 424 430 1988 430 424 428 1989 432 422 427 1990 423 419 424

MATH SCORES

County State National Average Average Average 1983 483 474 468 1984 482 476 471 1985 484 480 475 1986 485 481 475 1987 487 482 476 1988 490 484 476 1989 492 484 476 1990 488 484 476

NUMBER TAKING TEST

County State National 1983 6,164 100,490 962,877 1984 6,444 102,349 964,684 1985 6,608 104,585 977,361 1986 6,992 108,287 1,075,554 1987 8,041 117,198 1,080,426 1988 8,160 119,784 1,134,364 1989 8,036 115,552 1,088,223 1990 8,096 112,577 1,025,523

Source: San Diego County Office of Education