I wonder why???



Aug. 29, 2006
SAT records biggest score drop in 31 years


By JUSTIN POPE
Associated Press

The high school class of 2006 recorded the sharpest drop in SAT scores in 31 years, a decline that the exam's owner, the College Board, said was partly due to some students taking the newly lengthened test only once instead of twice.

Fatigue wasn't to blame, the College Board insisted, even though this year's class was the first to take a new version of the exam which added an essay. It now takes an average of three hours and 45 minutes to complete the test, not counting breaks.

The results come several months after numerous colleges reported surprisingly low SAT scores for this year's incoming college freshmen. The nonprofit College Board, which had said scores would be down this year, released figures today showing combined critical reading and math skills fell seven points on average to 1021.

The average critical reading score fell from 508 to 503, while math dropped from 520 to 518. On the new SAT writing section, the class scored 497 on average, with girls scoring 11 points higher than boys.

In addition to the new writing section, the exam taken by the class of 2006 had other new features, including higher-level math and the elimination of analogies.

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On the Net:

http://www.collegeboard.com/press/releases/46851.html

That is horrible.

Hopefully,when the kids become acclimated to the new exam format,the scores will begin to rise again.

College Board to release first SAT scores since writing test was added
In May, the board predicted that scores in math and reading would decline by four to five points.

BY GEORGINA STARK AND KATHRYN WALSON
247-4537 AND 247-4535

August 29 2006

The College Board today will release 2006 SAT scores from across the state and nation.

In May, the College Board, which owns the SAT, predicted a four to five point decrease in critical reading and math scores, said Caren L. Scoropanos, spokeswoman for the College Board.

But this year's scores for the new freshman classes at local universities are about the same or up from last year's freshman class, admissions officials said Monday.

The average SAT score for this year's freshman class at Christopher Newport University rose one point from last year's freshman class, said CNU's dean of admissions, Patricia Cavender. Cavender said that CNU's applications rose by 17 percent for 2006-2007 school year compared to applications they received for the 2005-2006 year. Since 1996, the average score for CNU freshman has gone up by 205 points.

Scores for this year's Hampton University freshman class were about the same as last year - around the 1060 mark - said Angela Nixon Boyd, director of admissions.

SAT scores of the incoming freshman class at the College of William & Mary haven't changed significantly in the past five years, said Henry Broaddus, dean of admissions.

Old Dominion University predicts its new students' SAT scores are about eight to 10 points on average higher than last year, said John Broderick, vice president for institutional advancement and admissions.

Most local school districts have not yet released this year's SAT scores. But previous years' data from some school districts shows that math and verbal scores fluctuated slightly from 2004 to 2005.

On a 1600-point scale, Newport News' average scores dropped from 941 to 940. York County's average scores rose from 1052 in 2004 to 1055 in 2005, and in Williamsburg-James City County the scores increased from 1029 to 1046.

Today's report is the first to include data from a full year of administering the revised SAT test. Changes to the test were introduced half way through the school year in 2005.

Students began taking the revised SAT in March 2005. It includes a new essay writing section and a new math section including topics from third-year college-prep math. The test was lengthened to three hours and 45 minutes, and the top score increased from 1600 to 2400 to accommodate the writing section. Previously, the SAT consisted of a verbal and a math section each worth 800 points.

CNU, HU and ODU did not factor in the new writing component of the test this year when making admission decisions. "I felt it would be premature to use something that was untried," Cavender said.

Niccole Waldo is a rising senior at Phoebus High School in Hampton who wants to go to CNU next year. She took the revised SAT last year. She didn't finish the writing portion of the test in the time allowed and was glad to hear CNU didn't count it.

"I was relieved to hear that," she said. "But I'm still going to take the test again this year."

W&M did take note of how applicants scored on the new writing portion of the SAT this year, but the college didn't assign as much importance to the writing scores as it did to the traditional math and reading portions of the test, Broaddus said.

Some colleges and universities are putting less stock in SAT scores as a factor for admission. George Mason University in Fairfax is one of the nation's first four-year public universities not requiring standardized test scores from high-performing high school students this year.

The university concluded that SAT scores are a poor indicator of collegiate success for those students, The Associated Press recently reported.

SAT scores are secondary to the high school transcript and what type of classes students took in high school when deciding whether to accept a student, said Nixon Boyd, HU's admissions director.

At W&M, the SAT is weighed with other factors - the student's coursework, grades, recommendations and personal statement - but is much less important than the entire application as a whole, Broaddus said.

ODU's Broderick agreed. "I'm going to have to be persuaded," he said, "why one Saturday in your life should count more than the past four years."

Staff writer Carol Scott contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2006, Daily Press

Although I support not counting the SAT very heavily in the admissions process,but why have the writing portion when schools aren't going to consider it?

This is also sad.


http://www2.edtrust.org/EdTrust/Promise+Abandoned+Report.htm


http://chronicle.com/daily/2006/09/2006090102n.htm

This is further proof that there's a conspiracy to let so many in and keep many more out of the running for a chance to pursue the American dream.

It seems that most are complaining about the test, so I ask is it the test or are our students being prepared?