Blair average SAT scores fall

The class of 2003's average SAT scores declined by seven points.

The math section scores of the SAT dropped from 575 in 2002 to 571, and the verbal section scores decreased from 560 to 557.

Montgomery County overall dropped by one point, however nationally scores rose by six points.

Despite Blair's SAT average falling, Blair still placed 7th out of Montgomery County's 23 schools, which was a slight improvement from Blair's 8th place in 2002. Blair also remained above the state and nation's SAT score averages.

Howard County's average SAT score was number one in Maryland with a score of 1096, while Montgomery County trailed by two points with a score of 1094.

SAT preparation teacher Silvia Trumbower accounts Howard County's success to their affluence. "Howard County socio-economically is richer than us at this point," explained Trumbower. "The correlation between socio-economic class and SAT score is irrefutable. Rich kids do good no matter what race they are, [and] poor kids don't do as well."

The average score of African-Americans increased by eleven points. They were the only ethnic group to increase their SAT score.

Although Blair's SAT average has not fallen significantly, Blair faculty members do want to see an increase in scores. "Regardless of where we are, we need to move up," stated Richard Wilson, who is in charge of administrating the Blair PSAT.

Trumbower does not believe that Blair should be discredited for the decline since there were two different sets of students who took the test. "I would feel better about the comparison if juniors took the SAT, and took the SAT again as seniors, and we compared those two scores, then we could see if these kids improved or these kids lost ground," expressed Trumbower. "Then it is comparing apples and apples instead of comparing apples and oranges."

The number of Blair students taking the SATs also dropped from 69% to 66%, and Wilson feels that Blair does all it can to have everyone be exposed to the test. "We encourage everyone to take the SATs. There are a lot of students who are less informed about the importance of the test," explained Wilson. "We have other students who have been here a short time and feel intimidated by the test."

Blair will try to increase scores by letting students know what their strength and weaknesses in taking the SAT, those strengths and weaknesses are given to students on the same page of their SAT results. "We'll take a class at a time and they will meet up with their counselors," explained Wilson. "The counselors will teach the students how to interpret the results themselves."