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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 23, 1978)
THE BATTALION THURSDAY, MARCH 23, 1978 Page 5 Local SAT scores over average consistently above By GAIL SMI LA Students at Bryan High School nd A&M Consolidated High ichool students have consistently [cored above average on the cholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), iowever, it may not be much to oast about. The SAT and the American Col- ]n f ege Test (ACT) tire given to high 1^'' chool seniors planning to attend a allege or university. Whether a student takes the SAT or the ACT depends on the re quirements of the college he plans ^ lo attend. , s , Texas A&M University accepts V 1 he SAT, and though local high chool seniors are not required to 1 Pjj ake the test, they are told it is a jrerequisite for admission to Texas , A&M. J 5 * 1 Admission to Texas A&M de- nct nands an applicant must have eri ® ;raduated from an accredited high ir01111 * chool, have satisfactorily com- pleted certain subjects, and made “t [ in acceptable score on the SAT. Me The subject requirements for ad- nission to the University are de igned to insure adequate prepara- on for various curricula offered by exas A&M. The subject requirements in- :lude: four hours of English, three lours of social sciences, and three lours of mathematics, including Igebra and geometry, two hours of cience, including chemistry and evert »iology. Four hours of electives are Iso required . The SAT measures basic English omprehension and mathematical ibility. Generally, applicants scoring Wk '00 points or better on the SAT are na^qdmitted to Texas A&M. Dr. C.B. Jones, director of re- earch and evaluation at the Educa- ional Services Center, said the SAT a gauge of how well a student has lone in his high school career and a redictor of his success at college. STUDENTS ARE not necessar- !y encouraged to take the SAT, but ve do make them aware of the feet his s( liat if they plan to attend a univer- he pj! ity, they should take it,” Jones said. The national average for 1977-78 ollege-bound students was 429 oints for verbal skills and 470 •oints for mathematic skills. However, average scores for the igh schools in the Bryan-College tation area ranked higher than the ational average in both verbal and W iathematic skills. At Bryan High School, 210 of 510 eniors took the SAT last year. Their yerage score was 433 points for erbal skills and 468 points for nathematic skills. Similarly, 112 of approximately seniors at Consolidated High hool.-scored an average, of 451 leri iiiiii . points for verbal skills and 512 points for mathematic skills on last year’s SAT. There have been various expla nations about the cause of a decline in national scores last several years. THE LAUNCHING of the Sput nik in the late 1950s sparked an in creased emphasis on science and mathematics. English, while not neglected, at the same time was not stressed. In the 1960s, “schools were thrust towards integration of people with different value systems, and test scores began to decline,” Jones said. He added that schools began to concentrate more on racial stability and less on teaching. Joe Wiese, Consolidated High School counselor, said curriculum variation could be a factor in the declining national scores. He said high school course options in high schools have been widely expanded in the past while the SAT has changed very little. Thus students are exposed to a greater variety of subjects but have less time for learning basic English and arithme tic skills. Also, greater emphasis on per sonal and social goals may be a link to declining national scores. De veloping creativity and the attempts to make learning a “frm” experience has created less competition, sub sequently causing a decrease in achievement, Wiese said. As with the declining national scores, there have been a variety of explanations for the cause of higher SAT scores in the Bryan-College Station area. Wiese feels the difference is due partly to locale. Because the schools are located in an “academically oriented community”, most of the students have been reared in an “environment geared towards achievement,” Wiese said. “This has been a university com munity since 1876,” Jones said, and added that he believes the commu nity is “education conscious.” JONES ALSO SAID he believes the community is economically stabilized by a low unemployment ratio and the large amount of money Texas A&M receives and injects into the local economic system. He also said that the low crime rate in Bryan and College Station may be reflected in the higher aver age scores. “Sometimes the greatest influ ence on learning is what a kid brings from home; his outside influences,” Jones said. Although local SAT scores in the two high schools are above the na tional average, Jones said he feels the scores, both locally and na tionally, are “not indicative of what people know.” “I think students coming out of schools now know more about ev erything than any generation in the past. They are better educated, but test scores have declined. It doesn’t seem to make much sense,” Jones said. “ON ANY SCORE or exam, exactly 50 percent of the people are below the average and 50 percent are above it. If we (Bryan High School) are in the 55 percentile, let’s say, that means we are above the national average on all scores. But even locally, 50 percent of the stu dents in BHS or CHS taking the SAT are below the average and 50 percent are above it,” Jones said. Jones said it is hard to compare SAT scores if the data used is disimi lar. Scores should be compared only if schools have the same “ethnic and economic breakdown and the same number of students.” A comparison of Bryan and A&M Consolidated high schools shows, in fact, the schools are not comparable. Bryan High had a student enroll ment of approximately 1,850 last year, while Consolidated had about 940 students. Also, Bryan High had a minority population of roughly 40 percent compared with a minority popula tion of less than 10 percent at Con solidated. AT BRYAN HIGH SCHOOL, 210 out of 510 seniors took the SAT last year. However, almost two thirds of Consolidated High School seniors took the SAT in the same time period. “If you want to prove that areas with poor people, minorities, and high crime rates do worse in schools than areas of middle class, em ployed people, you can do it with a standardized test,” Jones said. Jones said that although he doesn’t know whether it would be more advantageous to change cur riculum or the scholastic aptitude test, he does think that “norms es tablished several years ago by test ing companies may be a little out dated.” Wiese agreed that the tests may be outdated but added that if changes are going to be made, “we won’t see them for the next two or three years.” “I do believe a school ought to teach students what they need to get along in life with, and it differs from place to place,” Jones said. “If you want to measure what a kid knows, you need to have a test that measures the knowledge they’ve been trained in. If you have a test that measures one thing and a kid is in school learning other things, it’s kind of like running the 100-yard dash and then testing the kid as to whether or not he can read,” Jones said. WHILE SOME people think the SAT should be replaced by a test that measures a greater variety of skills, others, such as Consolidated principal Rodney LeBoeuf, believes a stricter teaching environment should be maintained. LeBoeuf said he would like to see “less freedom’’ in the classrooms and more emphasis on “traditional teaching of reading, writing, and arithmetic.” Jones said that students need to take their education seriously, reg uardless whether the school cur riculum or SAT is changed. GRAM) OPENING Monday — 1st day of spring. What better time to gel. your house and garden in shape with new plants from Pals of Pride Everything from tomato plants to rubber trees. During^ Grand Opening Week, one plant per day given away in progresive sizes. 1903 Old Hearne Rd., Bryan (Behind Grace’s Grocery) ******************** * An X, I nter nat iona I Conference Join over 600 International Students from every part of the World. When; leave Fri. afternoon March 24, return Sun. afternoon March 26 Where: Camp Lakeview Assembly Palestine, Texas Who: accommodations for single and married students. Why: to discover new friends, enjoy recreation, and share ideas about religion, culture, to a better understanding of our world. Cost: $10.00 per single student, family dependent on size. Register Today — Call Bill Barnett 846-7722 sponsored by the ♦ « Baptist Student Center £ m I * jJU 47 T Armadillos A real Armadillo would never bite your ankle softly padded from head to tail, inside and out. 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