Seniors score slightly lower on college exam than class before

Brendan Riley

Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2000 | 8:59 a.m.

CARSON CITY - Nevada high school seniors graduating this year scored slightly lower on the verbal section of a key college entrance exam than the class before them. Math scores were unchanged.

Nevada students scored 510 out of a possible 800 on the verbal Scholastic Aptitude Test, down from 512 the year before. The national average for both years was 505.

Nevada seniors scored 517 on the math test, no change from a year ago. The national average was 511 last year and 514 this year.

In Nevada, 4,883 or slightly more than a third of graduating, college-bound seniors took the SAT, the nation's leading college admission test. Nationally, the total was nearly 1.3 million or 44 percent of such seniors.

State schools chief Mary Peterson says she's pleased because the Nevada results show the state's graduating seniors "continue to perform above average when compared with other students across the nation."

But that's not the case when compared with neighboring states. The Nevada students' average 510 verbal score on the SAT is higher than California's 497 - but behind Arizona's 521, Oregon's 527, Idaho's 540 and Utah's 570 average verbal score.

On math, Nevada's 517 trailed California's 518, Arizona's 523, Oregon's 527, Idaho's 541 and Utah's 569 average SAT score.

A breakdown of the Nevada numbers show that men had average verbal scores of 514 compared with 507 for women. In math, men had a 539 average and women had a 499 average.

On a racial basis, whites had verbal scores of 520 and math scores of 524. For blacks, the scores were 459 and 454; for Asians, 497 and 536; for American Indians, 484 and 481; and for Hispanics, 474 and 477.

Peterson said the averages tended to be up for most racial or ethnic groups, although verbal scores for Indians and verbal and math scores for Hispanics were down substantially from the previous year.

She added the drop in scores of Hispanic students was surprising since similar declines weren't seen in other educational tests in Nevada.

If the declines continue, "it will clearly be an issue that needs considerable focus by educators in the future," Peterson said.

This week's report on SAT scores follows the release earlier this month of ACT assessments showing 5,752 Nevada seniors who took that test had a 21.5 composite score. The national average is 21, and the highest possible score is 36.

The ACT tests skills in four areas - English, math, reading, and science.

In English, Nevada's average ACT score was 20.7, compared with a national average of 20.5. In math, Nevada averaged 21.4, compared with the nation's 20.7. Nevada's reading score was 22, compared with the national 21.4. And in science, Nevada's score was 21.3, slightly above the nation's 21.