The Georgia SAT Paradox

Georgia’s recent 2006 SAT results were touted with great fanfare. Headlines around the state proclaimed that Georgia had made historic gains on the SAT. Every politician running for office claimed credit. But a closer look is warranted.

Yes, it is true that Georgia improved its national ranking from 50th to 46th . (As an aside, Georgia is consistent – it ranked 46th on the ACT also.) And it is true, and credit should be given, that Georgia’s students did better in the new writing section of the SAT than the other states in the bottom five, which is the reason why it moved up in the rankings. But no one is mentioning that performance in reading and math declined. The headline really should read “Rankings Improve, Performance Declines.”

How can this be? This year’s SAT included scores for writing for the first time. Instead of the former perfect score of 1600 (800 possible points for math and 800 possible points for reading), in 2006 a perfect score is 2400 (800 for math, 800 for reading, and 800 for writing). Georgia’s total SAT score in 2006 was 1468, thus making it more difficult to readily compare the 2006 score to past performance.

In order to compare 2006 SAT performance to past SAT performance, it is necessary to put aside writing scores for now and only look at reading (verbal) and math:

Although Georgia has seen a 5 point overall gain in the past 4 years, it lost 4 points in reading and math from 2005 to 2006. If Georgia were ranked solely using Reading and Math scores, it would rank 49th nationally. Interestingly, this year we heard less of the usual excuses about our SAT scores – we have too many students taking it, too many non-college bound students take the SAT, etc. Last year we were told we shouldn’t use SAT scores to judge the educational quality of a state; this year we were told we absolutely should use SAT scores to measure educational improvement in Georgia. It’s all about headlines – real understanding takes a bit more digging.

Consider, for example, how our best students compare to their national peers:

• The average reading score for Georgia students who scored in the top 25th percentile was 560, compared to 580 nationally – a 20 point deficit.

• The average math score for Georgia students who scored in the top 25th percentile was 570, compared to 600 nationally – a 30 point deficit.

• The average writing score for Georgia students who scored in the top 25th percentile was 550, compared to 570 nationally – a 20 point deficit.

This deficit among our top students should really concern us – it’s not just about too many (fill-in-the-blank) unprepared students taking the SAT. It’s about too many students – even our best and our brightest – not receiving the rigorous preparation they need to succeed in college.

Data Tables Used in this Article:

2006 ACT and SAT Rankings

2006 SAT Rankings by State

2006 ACT Rankings by State

2006 SAT Rankings by State without Writing Scores

2006 SAT Rankings of Highest Participants

Comparison of 2005 and 2006 SAT Scores by School System