SAT math scores up, verbal down

WASHINGTON, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- This year's Scholastic Achievement Test scores show graduating seniors need more work on reading, writing and grammar, but have improved significantly in math.

The College Board Tuesday released the scores for the 1.3 million students entering college this year. The 2002 average math score rose two points to 516, the highest in 32 years, and showed the gap between men and women narrowing. Verbal scores, however, fell three points to 504.

A perfect score for both parts of the test would total 1600.

"This year's scores confirm that the efforts that have been made to improve math education in the United States are paying off," College Board President Gaston Caperton said. "It is time to put that same kind of concerted energy behind ensuring that students reach their potential as skilled readers and writers."

The College Board said it will change the test for the class of 2006 to reflect more rigorous math curriculum and also plans to add more critical reading passages and a writing section.

"The writing test will serve as a call to educators to emphasize strong writing instruction," the College Board said. "It is time for writing to become a priority in our schools."

Forty-six percent of the class of 2002 took the test.

The percentage of minority students taking the test was a record 35 percent. Suburban students continue to score higher than their urban and rural counterparts, averaging 523 verbal and 536 math vs. 491 verbal and 503 math for city kids and 495 verbal and 499 math for rural students.

Women's math scores reached a 35-year high of 500 while male scores rose to 534. The gap between men's and women's scores decreased by three points.

"The narrowing gap may be attributed to the fact that an increasing number of females are taking rigorous math and science courses in high school," the College Board said. "Forty-four percent of female high school students in the class of 2002 reported taking pre-calculus, up from 31 percent a decade ago."

Overall, 45 percent of college-bound seniors took pre-calculus in high school, up 33 percent from a decade ago. Participation in calculus also increased from 20 percent in 1992 to 25 percent today.

In the same period, participation in English composition declined from 81 percent to 67 percent and grammar course work fell from 85 percent to 71 percent.

Connecticut posted the highest participation rate with 83 percent of graduating seniors taking the test, posting average verbal and math scores of 509. Students in North Dakota posted the highest scores -- 597 verbal and 610 math -- but only 4 percent of students took the test.

Broken down by ethnic group, whites scored highest, 519 verbal and 515 math; American Indians and Alaskan natives, 472 verbal, 471 math; Asians, 487 verbal, 551 math; African Americans, 428 verbal, 419 math; Mexican Americans, 449 verbal, 457 math; Puerto Ricans, 442 verbal, 438 math; other Hispanics, 459 verbal, 463 math, and others, 491 verbal, 498 math.

Asians had the highest grade point averages at 3.43, followed by whites, 3.37; others, 3.26; Mexican Americans, 3.21; American Indians, 3.15; other Hispanics, 3.14; Puerto Ricans, 3.07, and African Americans, 2.95.