Hawaii Students Score Lower Than Peers on SAT
Almost one-fifth of Hawaii’s students attend private schools, and the latest data indicate they do indeed get better scores on the SAT, often a critical component in the college admissions process.
But even Hawaii’s private school students underperform their peers nationally.
The College Board released its 2011 report Wednesday, revealing SAT results, demographic, academic and college plan information for students nationwide and in each state.
On the critical reading portion of the SAT, the average score for Hawaii students in non-religious private schools was 533, 79 points higher, than their public school counterparts, and 13 points higher than students at religiously affiliated schools.
In math, the average score was 563, 89 points higher than public schoolers and 19 points higher than students at religious schools. In writing, the average was 531, 90 points higher than public schoolers and 11 points higher than students at religious schools.
But Hawaii students in all types of schools underperformed their national counterparts. Private schoolers in Hawaii, for example, scored an average of 533 in math, compared with 579 scored by private schoolers nationally.
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It’s difficult to tell what type of achievement gap may exist between Native Hawaiians and others, because they are lumped into the “Asian, Asian American or Pacific Islander” group.
The results do reinforce, however, the conventional wisdom that family income influences student achievement: Hawaii SAT scores this year rose steadily with each progressive income bracket, for the students who reported family income (nearly half of the 8,731 test takers did not).
Overall, scores are down a little bit this year in Hawaii and flat nationally.
We reported earlier this year that studies show Hawaii students are not ready for college when they matriculate, but they’re not alone in their lack of preparation.
There is a lot of interesting data in Hawaii’s SAT report, which you can read in full , and the national report, . What do you want to know about the state’s college-bound seniors?
