Sat, Act Results Surpass National Average

Spokane-area students scored slightly above the national average on the 1995 SAT.

Spokane School District 81’s average on the verbal test jumped from 427 last year to 438. The district’s math score increased from 478 to 482.

Forty-four percent of District 81 seniors took the SAT.

The highest-scoring District 81 school on the verbal section was Lewis and Clark High with a score of 469. The highest score in math was Ferris High with 505.

Rogers High had the lowest average in the district in verbal (398) and in math (451).

School officials and The College Board caution against using SAT scores to compare schools because only collegebound students take the test.

In Mead, where 65 percent of seniors took the test, scores were also up over last year. The Central Valley School District, where half the seniors took the test, was up in verbal, but down in math.

At St. George’s School, a private college-preparatory school in north Spokane, all seniors took the test. Their verbal score remained at 534, where it was last year, and their math score increased from 581 to 589.

Few students in Idaho take the SAT.

More take the ACT (American College Testing) exam because Idaho universities prefer it. More than 60 percent of Idaho graduates take the ACT and only 15 percent take the SAT.

In keeping with tradition, Idaho students scored slightly above the national average on the ACT exams in 1995.

Students in Coeur d’Alene scored above the statewide average, which is also a tradition for North Idaho students taking the ACT.

The average score of the 9,275 high school students who took the ACT was 21.2. The ACT is scored on a range from 1 to 36. The national average was 20.8. The 61 Coeur d’Alene High students who took the test had an average score of 22.4. Half as many Lake City High students took the test, averaging 22.6.

The only academic area in which Idaho students scored slightly lower than the rest of the nation was in math.

, DataTimes MEMO: Cut in Spokane edition