SAT scores up here; lower than other areas

Alleghany County students fare low in comparison to most surrounding counties, as well as the state and national average, on the 2003-2004 Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT).

Even so, the average test score here increased by nine points over last year’s average. Alleghany High School students average score was 981, with 54 students participating in the voluntary test. Last year’s average score was 972, with 49 students taking the test.

In 2002, 37 AHS students took the test, scoring an average of 992. In 2003, 49 students took the test and the average score decreased by 20 points to 972.

The highest score possible on the test is 1,600. This year’s local average is 25 points below the state average, according information released by the N.C. Department of Public Instruction. Alleghany students average trailed Ashe County’s average of 986 by five points. Surry and Wilkes counties had average scores of 1,004 and 1,012 respectively.

This year’s Alleghany County average score of 981 is broken down by an average math score of 497 and average verbal score of 484; the math being 10 points shy of the state average and verbal being 15 points shy of the state average. This year, 55.1 percent of Alleghany students were tested, as compared to 48 percent in 2000.

Since 1990, the state’s average SAT score has increased by 58 points, rising from 948 to 1,006.

Local reaction

“The results of the test are pretty much dependent on how they (the students) do in class,” Alleghany County Test Coordinator Frank Busic said at an Alleghany County Board of Education meeting.

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