Students in Montgomery County continue to far outdo their Prince George’s peers in performance on the SAT college admissions test.
The nonprofit College Board, which manages the test, released nationwide test results Tuesday.
Among Montgomery County’s 23 public high schools with graduating classes for 2006, almost 7,200 seniors took the SAT last academic year. Their mean combined score of 1,634 was 123 points higher than the statewide average.
Whitman High School boasted Montgomery County’s highest average combined score at 1,884 out of a possible 2,400, while Wheaton High School posted the lowest with 1,313. Average scores countywide were 539 for critical reading, 558 for math and 537 for writing.
Prince George’s County saw declines in both critical reading and math scores. At 437, the average critical reading score is down five points from last year, while average math scores declined 10 points to 425.
A spokesman for Prince George’s County Public Schools said new Chief Executive Officer John Deasy plans to offer free PSAT testing for sophomores and juniors, free SAT testing for income-eligible juniors and College Board teacher training on SAT preparation.
Average national scores for critical reading and mathematics fell seven points total from last year, the worst decline in 31 years. Including a newly added writing section, the average combined score nationwide was 1,518.
The classof 2006 was the first to take a revamped version of the SAT that added 800 points and 45 minutes to a test that already took three hours to complete.
Steve Corrozi, assistant vice-president for the mid-Atlantic region at The Princeton Review, said he was not surprised at the drop in scores nationally.
“It’s simply a very different test than it used to be,” Corrozi said. “Stamina is a huge factor in the test now.”
The writing section of the SAT consists of multiple-choice questions and a brief essay in which students are asked to respond to a stated opinion.
Nationwide, female students outperformed males on the writing section across all racial and ethnic groups, scoring 11 points higher. The strong showing on writing helped decrease the overall gap between males and females on total SAT scores from 42 to 26 points.
