What’s measured This study examines the average Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) score as a percentage of the U.S. average score, for each of the region’s 21 school districts and for the region as a whole. This was done from the 2000-01 school year through the 2005-06 school year. Data come from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and the South Carolina Department of Education. Average scores are published both for individual high schools and for school districts, based on scores of all students taking the SAT in a given year. Students taking the SAT are mostly juniors in high school, but can include some sophomores and seniors as well. Beginning with the 2005-06 school year, the SAT consists of three sections of the SAT: math, critical reading (formerly called the verbal score) and writing. The writing score is new. For consistency with previous data, the writing score was omitted and only the combined math and critical reading scores were used in calculations for 2005-06. The district and regional combined math and critical reading scores are compared to the U.S. average combined math and reading score. The combined math and critical reading scores have a total possible score of 1600, with 800 points from math and 800 points from critical reading. For example, if the U.S. average combined score is 1000, and a district’s average combined score in reading and math totals 980, the district score is 98 percent of the U.S. average. A district with an average score of 1020 in the same year is 102 percent of the national score of 1000. Why it’s measured The SAT offers a measure of college preparedness among high school students. Differences in how states maintain other achievement measures make the SAT score a measure that can more easily be compared across districts in North and South Carolina. Indicator results The regional high school average SAT score as a percent of the U.S. score for 2005-06 is 96.2 percent. The regional high school average SAT score has consistently hovered around 96 percent of the U.S. average score from 2000-01 through 2005-06. Overall, school districts in the Charlotte region have tended to score within a few percentage points of the national average, with several districts at or just above the national average score. Evaluation Most districts in the region are producing high school students who are performing respectably compared to their national counterparts in this measure. Some districts in the region, such as Iredell-Statesville, posted scores above the national average in three of the six school years studied. More variation exists, however, when scores are compared from high school to high school. High growth suburban areas are often seeing above-average SAT scores, while rural and poorer areas have much lower scores. But this is not universally the case. Connections The variation among districts, and especially from high school to high school, indicates a range of college preparedness among regional high school students. Understanding how issues of poverty, both in rural and urban areas, correlate with lower scores is critical if the region is to meet the longer-term challenge of building human capital to provide jobs and improve incomes.
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