August 29, 2006

GCISD students continue to exceed state, national SAT averages
Graduates fare well on new writing exam, but show slight dip in verbal scores

Grapevine-Colleyville ISD students continue to exceed state and national averages on the SAT college-entrance exam, as reported Wednesday in a report from The College Board. In addition, average scores on the new writing portion of the test are favorable compared to state and national marks.

The writing section was administered for the first time in March 2005, making this the benchmark year of reported scores in that subject area. Overall, GCISD students averaged a score of 531 on writing – 44 points higher than the state average and 34 points above the national average. Students at both high schools also scored higher than state and national averages in this subject.

In the critical reading, or verbal, subject area, GCISD students averaged a score of 541. While this is four points lower than last year’s District average in this subject, it is 50 points higher than the state average and 38 points higher than the national average. In math, the District average rose one point from last year, surpassing the state average by 45 points and the national average by 35 points.

Both GCISD high schools saw slight declines in the verbal scores over last year, with Colleyville Heritage High down six points and Grapevine High down four points. However, this year’s verbal scores follow the District in exceeding state and national averages. CHHS averaged 47 points higher than the state and 35 points higher than national on verbal scores while GHS averaged 52 points higher than the state and 40 points higher than national.

In addition, GHS saw an increase of three points in math scores, exceeding state averages by 47 points and national scores by 37 points. CHHS remained the same in math as last year, but surpassed the state average by 43 points and the national score by 33 points.

Finally, the number of SAT test takers in GCISD during 2005-06 increased 5.4 percent from the previous year, bringing the number of GCISD high school students who took the SAT exam to approximately 85 percent. This follows a 15.5 percent rise in the number of students who took the ACT. Since it is a goal of the District to increase the number of students taking college-entrance exams, these gains are a positive step toward that goal.

The SAT Reasoning Test is one of the most widely accepted college-entrance exams in the United States. It measures the critical thinking skills needed to succeed in college by assessing how well students analyze and solve problems. It is typically taken by high school juniors and seniors.

A chart of year-by-year comparison of scores for GCISD can be accessed at www.gcisd-k12.org/pr/scores.html. For more information about the exam, visit www.collegeboard.com.