Jackson County SAT scores drop again

By Lisa Majors-Duff

Though local scores still bested the state average, Jackson County fell from 28th to 32nd place among state school systems and failed to top the national average for the second year in a row.

Jackson students scored 498 on the math portion of the test (down two points from last year) and 497 on the verbal section (up a point from last year), for an overall average of 995.

Scores of 1999-2000 seniors were used to determine this year's figures. Local students' average score was down one point from last year's 996, which was a 29 point drop from 1998-98 and 32 points from 1997's high of 1,027. Jackson tested 128 students last year.

"We've not varied much over the last several years," said Superintendent Frank Burrell, who said he attaches no special significance to this year's drop. "It's just the normal fluctuation of a small school system."

Some counties influence their SAT results by controlling who takes the test, but Jackson has never done that, Burrell said.

"We test a high percentage of our students," Burrell said. "A number of systems around us don't test as many as we do. Most of our kids go on to college, so most of them take the SATs."

Jackson's 2000 average score, with 66.7 percent of seniors tested, bettered the state average of 988 by seven points but fell 24 points short of the national average of 1,019.

Jackson was one of eight Western North Carolina school systems to report a decline in test scores this year, with five reporting increases.

A ranking the 13 area systems follows:

The SAT measures a student's reasoning, verbal and math skills against the skills needed to be successful in freshman-level college course work. The primary use for SAT scores is as a tool for admissions officials at colleges and universities.

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