Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

SAT Scores Rise; Fifth Grade Best

From Senator Mike Ross

About 90,000 Arkansas students took the Stanford Achievement Test this year and showed a slight improvement over last year's scores.

Students in grades five, seven and 10 took the nationally standardized test. Fifth-graders scored a composite of 47, up from a score of 46 last year. Seventh-graders had a composite score of 49, compared to a score of 48 last year. Tenth-graders scored 48, an improvement over their composite of 47 last year.

The results indicate that Arkansas students are still below the national average on standardized tests, however. For example, students who scored a composite of 47 did as well as 47 percent of students nationwide who took the test. A score of 50 would equate to the national average.

One reason for encouragement is that seventh-graders scored highest on the science portion of the test. On average, students in grade seven scored 55 and students in grade 10 scored 53.

Fifth-graders did best in the section testing spelling and reading vocabulary, in which they scored 51.

On the math section, tenth-graders scored a composite of 51, while seventh-graders scored 44. Fifth-graders scored 40 on the math section.

The test scores are used for a variety of purposes, such as determining which areas a student needs to work. State Education Department officials used overall scores to rank school districts to determine if state intervention is needed.

Districts in which more than 40 percent of students score below the 25th percentile must show improvement. If those districts don't bring up their students' test scores over a period of time, the state can designate the district as being in academic distress. Then, state officials could take over the operations of the district.

Good SAT scores are important for tenth-graders with a grade point average below 2.0 who want to participate in extra-curricular activities such as sports. The state Board of Education recently voted to allow students with grades below 2.0 participate in activities if they score 50 or above on the SAT. A 2.0 grade point average equals a C average.

State Revenues Healthy

State revenue collections for November were up 6.1 percent from November of 1996, according to the most recent report of the state Department of Finance and Administration. This is excellent news because state revenues effect the general health of the Arkansas economy.

In November the state's gross general revenues were $251.3 million, which represented an increase of $14.5 million over revenues in November of the previous year.

For the entire fiscal year to date, revenues have totaled $1.32 billion. The state fiscal year began July 1. This year's revenues are up $55.7 million from the same period in the previous fiscal year.

Over the past year, the growth of the state's net available revenues has been 5.7 percent. A year ago the growth rate for the previous 12 months was 4.7 percent.

The state's to budget official said that individual income tax collections accounted for a big part of the increase. That is good news because it means either that people are earning higher salaries or that more people are in the work force.