Ashland sets the pace for SATs
Ashland High School showed higher SAT scores this year than the state and national averages, according to test results released Tuesday by The College Board.
Reading scores topped the charts for AHS seniors with an average score of 576, compared to the state average of 523 and the nation's 503 average. Local high school seniors averaged 567 in math and 546 in writing. The 2006 test included a writing segment for the first time, a revamped critical reading section and elimination of the classic anthology questions.
Ashland High principal Jeff Schlecht said the high school does not offer an SAT preparation course. He said the community and parental interest in post-high school education fuel local students' higher scores.
"I can kind of guarantee through our curriculum that they will have success in college," Schlecht said.
Ashland High critical reading averages rose by six points, but state and national averages declined by one and five points, respectively. Local math scores rose 10 points. Oregon scores rose one point on average, and national scores declined two points on average.
More Ashland High graduates are heading to college than did in the past three years, but fewer students took the college entrance exam in 2005-2006. Eighty-five percent of AHS students will attend a two- of four-year college this fall, compared to 79 percent last year and 66 percent the year before. The percentage of AHS senior test takers, however, dipped from last year's 61 percent to 57.4 percent, according to the school's statistics.
Statewide, 18,357 students took the SAT test. One thousand two hundred more took the test in Oregon the last school year. The more than 18,000 seniors who took the test represent 55 percent of the state's graduating seniors. Oregon Department of Education officials cite increased enrollment in community colleges who do not require the test as a possible reason for the decline in test takers.
Numbers of minority students who took the SAT rose in 2006 from 18 percent to 19 percent. In 2004, 13 percent of minority students took the test.
Oregon State Schools Superintendent Susan Castillo said the state's average results show a need for tougher high school graduation requirements.
"We want our high school graduates to be prepared for college and work, and that means higher level math skills, more science classes, and a laser-like focus on literacy," Castillo said in a prepared statement Tuesday. "But it also means help and assistance for those students who are struggling to achieve."
The College Board, a non-profit membership association, administers the SAT.
Ashland High School seniors also scored higher than the state average in the ACT test in 2006. Eighty-one percent of ACT test takers were deemed ready for college English, 71 percent for college algebra, 68 percent for social science, 50 percent for biology and 40 percent for all four categories. Sixty-eight Ashland High seniors took the ACT this school year. Their scores increased in English, math and science from the 2004-2005 class. In reading, scores dropped one point on average at Ashland High, and composite scores stayed the same.
Staff writer Alan Panebaker can be reached at 482-3456 x 227 or apanebaker@dailytidings.com.
