Do SAT Test Scores Reflect Achievement?

The state’s annual report card on high school performance was published earlier this month and San Fernando Valley schools earned generally good marks on SAT scores and in the number of graduates they send to public colleges. Valley campuses accounted for eight of the top 10 SAT performers in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

The scholastic aptitude scores revealed, however, that at a majority of the Valley’s high schools, the percentage of seniors scoring at or above the SAT national average of 1,000 dropped.

DIANE WEDNER asked a high school principal and an English teacher about the significance and validity of the SAT results and what factors contributed to their schools’ high or low test results.

KATHY RATTAY, principal, Granada Hills High School. Average student SAT score: 995. Overall state percentile ranking: 91. Percentage change from two years previous: +7.7

It is significant that 73% of our kids take the SAT, and we’re proud of our outcome, considering how many students took the test. Since we encourage so many students to take the exam, we’ve set up a culture of high expectations and high achievement that’s been built over many years.

Students come to Granada [Hills High School] with a mind-set to take the SAT, which allows them to go to college. Since 80% of our kids go to college, the SAT is an important factor. Setting up the culture for this is a big part of getting these high numbers. We have a tremendous faculty, and the parents here are also behind the kids. This is the culture I’m speaking of.

We view the exam as a way of getting the kids to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses. They need to see where they should build up their skills so they can do better in college. Some of our students think they’ll graduate and go to Yale, but after taking the SAT, they can look at the scores and be realistic about their goals. The test serves this purpose as well.

I think the test is only one indicator of the schools’ and district’s level of performance. It’s not the only indicator. Grade-point averages are important and the colleges recognize that. You get a good composite from grades, test scores and general performance. Some kids don’t score so well, but they’re still successful in school.

As to whether the SATs are a valid judge of student achievement, I think we have to look at the correlation between economic standing and achievement. Mastery of English is also a factor. These all play a part in how well kids achieve.

JEFF MARCIANO, English teacher, James Monroe High School, North Hills. Average SAT score: 923. Overall state percentile ranking: 33. Percentage change from two years previous: -1.1

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I think it’s great that the district’s test scores improved, but I don’t place that much importance on standardized tests, because they don’t necessarily reflect what’s going on in the schools. Also, the tests seem to be biased toward social status, so kids who grow up without advantages like newspapers, magazines and books around the house tend to do poorly on these exams.

The kids in this geographic area sometimes come from a less advantaged background and therefore are not exposed to the same things as kids from other areas with a higher income. I don’t think the test scores reflect a student’s potential. It just lets us know where they stand against kids from all over, and it may not be a level playing field. The parents of our students often work long hours and aren’t as available to help the kids with homework. They also may not have attained a level of education that’s even equal to their kids’ right now. Many of our parents don’t speak the same language in which their kids are learning at school. That affects everything.

One big problem we face is that when kids arrive here, they should have the necessary skills to succeed in high school, but not all of them do. So the teachers shouldn’t be judged, based on test scores, for what we didn’t have a hand in earlier. Test scores don’t address that issue. You just can’t see all the factors that affect their levels of ability.

Our main goal as teachers is to maintain the state and district guidelines for grade-level achievement. That’s more important than achieving high SAT scores. If we’re teaching to the state standards, and we do, eventually those test scores will improve.

I’ve been here three years and I’ve seen so many improvements at our school. We have solid teachers and enthusiastic kids. If our test scores went down, it doesn’t reflect all the good that’s going on here.