Local school districts released their SAT scores Wednesday.
In the 2020-2021 school year, for the fourth year in a row, Georgia SAT scores beat the national mean despite lower amounts of test takers. In the 2021-2022 school year, the number of test takers increased, and mean scores nationwide and statewide decreased.
According to a press release from the Columbia County School District, the national mean score has been reported 1028 — a 32-point drop from 2021’s mean score.
The national mean has dropped significantly over the past five years. Although Georgia has outpaced the national mean by 24 points, the state’s mean followed the nationwide trend by dropping 25 points.
According to South Carolina’s Department of Education, the state SAT mean score is 27 points below the national and statewide mean at 1023 – five points down from the state mean of 1028.
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Richmond County School System
“Congratulations to the Richmond County School System Class of 2022 for achievement growth over 2020 pre-pandemic SAT test takers,” said Superintendent of Schools Kenneth Bradshaw in a press release. “Though there was a slight decrease from 2021, this year more of our students showed up to take the SAT, applied the knowledge they are learning in the classroom and prepared for opportunities to continue their success after graduation.”
While some schools within the county have a mean score above the national mean, Richmond County as a whole still has an mean SAT score 58 points below the national mean and 82 points below the state mean.
According to a press release from Richmond County School System, the number of test takers has increased compared to last year and even outperformed 2020’s pre-pandemic scores; however, they fail to mention the school’s system 31-point drop in mean schools — 970 compared to 2021’s 1001.
Although John S. Davidson Fine Arts Fine Arts Magnet School surpassed both the national and state mean with a 1183 mean and was the highest scoring school in Richmond County, it experienced an 11-point drop compared to 2021’s mean score of 1194.
In contrast, A.R. Johnson Magnet School experienced an eight-point increase with a mean SAT score of 1123; Richmond County’s lowest scoring school, Butler High School, scored a mean score of 820 with a 37-point drop from 2021’s score; a score over 200 points lower than the national and state mean.
“Richmond County students made gains in some areas, and there is still work to do to build on the upward trend in SAT scores,” said Bradshaw. “We will review these results and use them to identify areas of focus to expand student growth and achievement.”
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Columbia County School District
“We congratulate the hardworking students and staff who are behind these outstanding scores,” said Superintendent Steve Flynt in a press release. “We are looking forward to continuing to evaluate these scores and identify areas of improvement. Overall, the Columbia County School District continues to perform above state levels, and we know that these scores are a picture of the quality education our students are receiving.”
Like pre-pandemic scores, almost all Columbia County’s high schools have managed to maintain a mean score above the national average, and 5 out of 6 schools achieved a mean score above the state mean.
With exactly four points short, Harlem High School was the only school in Columbia County to accumulate a mean score below state and national average of 1024.
“I think it’s really attributable to all our great educators but really it’s something that we ought to celebrate our students and our community on,” Flynt said.
Greenbrier High had the highest SAT mean score, 1131, which was 79 points higher than the state mean score and more than 100 points higher than the national mean score.
Flynt said a key factor in these high SAT scores is the students’ hard work and dedication to studying.
“I’m extremely proud of all of our students and their achievement on the SAT, but we’re also very excited about what our teachers, K-12, expect out of our students and offer to our students in the classroom every day,” he said. “I think the SAT is something that measures really the ultimate growth of our students and that starts when we first get them in Pre-K or kindergarten and continues on. You can think about many of the foundational skills that they learn in early elementary; those skills are sometimes just as important as the content they learn in upper high school around the time they take the SATs.”
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Aiken County
According to South Carolina’s Department of Education Aiken, out of eight high schools, only one school in the county met the state’s mean SAT score of 1023.
With a score 1246 and 97.2% test takers, Aiken Scholars Academy was the only school that met the state standard and managed to surpass the national mean score by over 200 points.
Ridge Spring-Monetta High School had the lowest average with a mean score of 857 – over 160 points lower than the national and state mean scores.
Most Aiken County high schools had a mean score which ranged from high 970s to 980s, about 50 points below the state and national mean SAT scores.
Liz Wright is a staff writer covering education and general assignments for The Augusta Press. Reach her at liz@theaugustapress.com
