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We’ve all heard the story - Georgia Ranks 50th in SAT scores.
“I know you read this front page headline, but it is not true in anyway ... Georgia is not 50th”. So
states a white paper issued by Mr. Mark Musick, President of the Southern Regional Education Board. For a long time, we as Georgians, have been pounded over the head with the
statistic that we are 50th on the SAT. It was a relief for me to read the report by Mr. Musick and understand the statistic more fully.
I thought it would be important for
you to have this information as well. Mr. Musick points out that in only 23 states do most students take the SAT and in the other states, most students take another college
admission test known as the ACT. He points out: “Georgia can’t be 50th on the SAT race when 27 states essentially don’t participate in the race. In many of the 27 non SAT
states, only a few hundred students take the SAT and most of these include many of the states’ top students seeking admission to highly selected universities, including ivy league
schools.”
He then points out a more alarming finding:
“Georgia could have the highest SAT scores of all 23 SAT states in America, and Georgia would still
rank in the bottom half of the states in SAT scores if the non SAT states were included in a 50 state ranking.”
To get a true measure of the ranking of Georgia,
therefore, Mr. Musick used a formula to calculate a comparison with the ACT test. His conclusion was that Georgia would rank about 40th.
“If one converts all of the
27 ACT state scores to equivalent SAT scores, how does Georgia compare among 50 states? The answer is that Georgia is about 40th. The latest actual ranking from this
procedure is 39th, but allowing that the process is not precise, it would be difficult for anyone to argue that Georgia is not about 40th.”
The conclusion of this
very comprehensive report, therefore, is that Georgia is not really 50th if you compare apples to apples. While being “about 40th” is something we should strive to continue to
improve, our students should not continue to be victims of erroneous statistics that are being floated throughout the state.
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