SAT: Georgia's Minority Students Outperform Nation

Minority students in Georgia public schools continue to outperform African-American and Hispanic students across the country on the SAT.
But, the College Board's 2009 SAT report also shows that Georgia must remain committed to closing the achievement gap and preparing all students for the 21st century.
Overall, Georgia, like the nation, saw a slight drop in the SAT scores of 2009 high school graduates.
Georgia's public, private and home school students scored 1,460 on the SAT, down six points from 2008. The national average was 1,509, down two points from the previous year. Public school students scored 1,450 on the exam, down three points from 2008. The national average score was 1,493, down two points from the previous year.

The Need to Close the Gap
The 2009 SAT report clearly shows that African-American and Hispanic students in Georgia's public schools are outperforming those subgroups nationally.
- African-American students in Georgia public schools scored 1,274, which was 10 points higher than the national average for African-American public school students (1,264).
- Hispanic public school students in Georgia scored a 1,412, which was 66 points higher than the national average (1,346).
The difference between the scores of African-American and white public school students -- called "the achievement gap" -- is 274 points in Georgia, which is 34 points smaller than the achievement gap nationwide (308). The gap between the scores of Hispanic and white public school students in Georgia is 136 points, 90 points lower than the nation (226).

Superintendent Cox said a lot of work is already being done. For instance, the state has been pushing to increase the number of students who are taking Advanced Placement (AP) classes and the 2009 data shows that it is working. The number of students taking AP classes jumped more than 11 percent, overall. The biggest increase in enrollment was among African-American students (+16.2%) and Hispanic students (+19.3 percent). This is important because students who take even one year of AP classes in any subject will score higher on the SAT.



Raising Math Achievement
Superintendent Cox pointed out that, overall, Georgia trails the national average on the mathematics portion of the SAT by 24 points, which is far more than the state is trailing in reading (11 points) and writing (14 points).
"If we are going to improve student achievement, including our SAT scores, then we must be serious about improving math achievement in Georgia," Superintendent Cox said. "With our new curriculum, we are making sure that all students are getting a strong foundation in mathematics that will prepare them not only for the SAT, but for the colleges and careers of the 21st century."
The 2009 SAT Report to the Nation reflects the scores of last year's senior class. None of those students were taught using the state's new math curriculum, the Georgia Performance Standards (GPS). Implementation of the math GPS began with sixth-graders in 2005 and has been phased in one grade per year. Students in the class of 2012 will be the first graduating class to have been fully instructed in GPS mathematics during secondary school.

High Participation and Ongoing Analysis
Georgia remains one of 24 "high participation" states, where more than 40 percent of the students take the SAT. In Georgia, 71 percent of all students took the SAT, much higher than the national participation rate of 46 percent.
While overall SAT participation in Georgia went up slightly this year, participation in Georgia public schools dropped more than eight percent. Meanwhile, the number of public school students taking the ACT increased over 11 percent in 2009.
The state continues to offer all high school students free access to the College Board’s Official SAT Online Course. In 2008, students who used the course scored 48 points higher than those who did not.

Georgia SAT Report