In the recently released 2014-15 reports for the two major tests used nationally for college admissions, the Bulloch County Schools’ overall scores dropped 3.1 percent on the SAT and were unchanged on the ACT, remaining below the statewide averages on both.
“These results are a reality check for us,” Superintendent Charles Wilson began a prepared statement on the scores. “We need to pay attention to what they tell us, but we don’t need to overreact. These scores reflect a student’s cumulative learning experience, and that is not something you fix overnight.”
But he also suggested that the sustained performance on the ACT, versus the drop in the SAT, reflects a difference in what the two tests measure.
The SAT, previously the Scholastic Assessment Test, has three general sections: critical reading, math and writing. The ACT, from a company previously called American College Testing, reports separate English, math, reading and science scores. It is generally seen as requiring more knowledge of specific content than the SAT.
In these differences and the local results, Wilson said, he sees a few things worth mentioning.
“One is that we are doing a better job of teaching students what they need to know (ACT) than we are at teaching them how to think and communicate what they know (SAT),” Wilson said. “Another is that we still lag behind the state and nation in performance on both of these tests. That is the bad news, the brutal reality that none of us in this community consider acceptable.”
SAT scores
On the SAT, Georgia’s mean score was 1450, five points higher than in 2014. The national average for this year’s graduates was 1490. These are totals of the three SAT component scores, each of which has a maximum 800 score, toward a perfect total score of 2400.
But the Bulloch County Schools’ total score, for students in the 2015 graduating class at the three high schools, was 1375. That was a 44-point drop, or 3.1 percent, from the total score of 1419 for the 2014 graduating class.
“The good news is that we have assessed the problem, identified what we believe are the main causes, and begun the systemic changes needed to correct them,” Wilson said. “ With our board's guidance and support, we are developing a performance culture in our schools, aligned from kindergarten through 12th grade, that requires us to look at the growth and achievement of every child, with constant evaluation and adjustment. “
The school system will maintain a uniform focus on achievement, but is giving individual schools “a lot of flexibility to solve the problem at the point of contact with the student,” he said.
With the most recent graduating class, Statesboro High School’s total average SAT score dropped 62 points, to 1359.
“We are working diligently to improve reading, writing and math scores through our ongoing participation in Professional Learning Community training for our faculty and increasing rigor for our students by evaluating depth of knowledge levels in academic subject areas,” said Dr. Ken LeCain, Statesboro High principal.
Southeast Bulloch High School had the local school system’s highest average SAT score, 1435, one point lower than the previous year. This is the sum of a five-point gain in math offset by three-point declines in both the writing and critical reading scores.
With 26 of this year’s Portal Middle High School graduates having taken the SAT, their total mean score of 1280 was 26 points lower than that of the previous Portal graduating class.
ACT Scores
Each of the four ACT test components – English, math, reading and science – is scored on a 36-point scale, and the composite score is an average of the four subject scores. Unlike the SAT, for which there is no target score, the ACT has national benchmark scores of 18 in English, 22 in math, 22 in reading and 23 in science.
Bulloch County’s ACT scores saw only slight variations compared to 2014. The district’s average composite score remained 19.5. Of the four test areas, English was the strongest subject for the district. All three high schools and the district met or exceeded the national benchmark of 18.
Southeast Bulloch High School had the district's highest composite score, 20.3, and highest average score in each section, as it has for at least the last six years. Statesboro High posted gains in each area, continuing a four-year trend in gains. Though Portal Middle High showed slight decreases in each area except reading, their four-year trend data had reflected gradual increases.
More students testing
Of the county school system’s 612-member graduating class, 271 students, or 44 percent, took the SAT. Statewide, 77 percent of graduates took the SAT. Meanwhile, 264 of the Bulloch County Schools’ graduating classes, or 36 percent, took the ACT. There is overlap, with some students taking both.
Move on When Ready, a program that lets students complete their high school graduation requirements by enrolling early at colleges and universities, has been expanded this year under a new state law. It can make two years of college tuition-free and now covers other costs.
This is prompting more students to take the SAT and ACT, Laquanda Love, a counselor at Statesboro High School, reported in the news release on the scores provided by Hayley Greene, public relations specialist for the Bulloch County Schools.
“We have seen an increase in the number of students taking national tests due in part to opportunities available through Move on When Ready,” Love said. “Resources have made these tests available to a larger number of students.”
For the 2014-15 school year, Statesboro High had more than 600 attempts on the SAT and ACT, Greene reported. Not all were tests taken by the graduating class, from which there were 158 Statesboro High students counted as taking the SAT and 174 taking the ACT.
Donna Clifton, principal of Southeast Bulloch High School, said her school encourages students to take both the ACT and the SAT, because individuals test and learn differently.
“We encourage them to practice for any standardized test by utilizing what is available through the testing websites, Khan Academy, and by administering the PSAT on our campus,” Clifton said.
She noted that the PSAT, a preliminary test to the SAT, will be administered at Southeast Bulloch High during the school day this year.
“We have a larger group testing this year, and we believe this will help students increase their scores on the SAT,” she said.
For Georgia students, HOPE's Zell Miller Scholarship will pay 100 percent of their tuition if they have at least a 3.7 GPA and achieve at least a 26 score on the ACT or 1200 on the SAT.