Asheville High Beats National SAT Scores

Asheville City Schools
For Immediate Release
August 26, 2009

Asheville High and SILSA post high SAT scores, outpacing the state and nation for the 12th consecutive year.

Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) results were released Tuesday and Asheville High School and SILSA saw strong results, bettering both the North Carolina and national averages for the 12th straight year. One hundred and seventy-one AHS seniors took the exam during their high school career. Seven seniors from SILSA’s first graduating class took the SATs.

“Our goal is to establish a college-going culture in Asheville City Schools,” Superintendent Allen Johnson reiterated. “Consistently strong SAT scores year after year tell us we are on the right track!”

Asheville High seniors averaged 518 on the math portion and 530 on critical reading (formerly called “verbal”) for a “traditional” combined SAT average of 1048. This was the fourth year for the writing portion of the SAT assessment package and Asheville seniors averaged 507 on the writing component, elevating last year’s writing results by two points.

Students from SILSA’s class of 2009 averaged 504 on the math portion and 531 on critical reading for a combined score of 1035. They racked up the second highest scores among 115 districts on writing – 557.

North Carolina averages for 57,147 test takers: math – 511; critical reading – 495; combined – 1006; writing – 480. United States averages for more than a million and a half test takers: math – 515; critical reading – 501; combined – 1016; writing – 493.

“Last year’s Asheville High and SILSA seniors have sustained a long tradition of outperforming the state and the nation,” Johnson continued. “Initiatives like our Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program are equipping a number of traditionally non-college bound students with both the desire and skills to advance to a postsecondary education experience. Taking the SAT test is part of that package.”

More than one-third (61/171) of the 171 AHS students who comprise the 2009 results are minority students. In contrast, in 2006, only 18% (24/135) of the AHS test takers were minority.

The districts combined 74.2% participation rate ranks third in the state, behind Chapel Hill-Carrboro and Dare County public schools. In contrast, the North Carolina 2009 participation rate was 63% and nationally, just 46% of seniors took the SAT.

The district’s 1,047 mean score on the verbal and math portion of the SAT in 2009 ranked eighth among the state’s 115 public school districts. (SAT mean scores reflect the performance of 2008 high school graduates, and include the most recent SAT test taken during a student’s high school career.)

“My hat is off to Asheville High’s teachers, students, staff and families” said Asheville High School principal Carol Ray. “But I would also like to congratulate the dedicated teachers and administration throughout our entire district who have worked so hard over the past several years to prepare our community’s children for each successive grade and challenge.”

Asheville City Schools’ assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, Kelvin Cyrus, points to a continued emphasis on SAT readiness, after school SAT preparation sessions, the College Plus program instituted at Asheville High School several years ago and the AVID program, which targets students who have traditionally not planned on a college pathway after high school. In 2009 AVID graduated its fifth class of seniors, and those 26 students were all accepted for college admission.

Asheville City Schools encourages all juniors to take the PSAT, which will be offered in October. “This is the best preparation for the SAT,” Cyrus emphasizes. “The feedback the students and their parents get from the PSAT is invaluable!”

The gap between North Carolina's critical reading and math scores total and the nation's score total is 10 points. North Carolina has been closing that gap for a number of years, posting an average yearly gain on the SAT of approximately three points since 1989, compared with about .5 points for the nation. Since 1990, North Carolina has narrowed the gap from 53 points to 10 points.

For a link to the NC DPI press release: www.ncpublicschools.org