LAUSD LAGS ON SAT SCORES POOR, ENGLISH-LEARNERS BLAMED FOR SHOWING.

Byline: Lisa M. Sodders Staff Write

Los Angeles Unified School District students made bigger improvements than their peers nationwide on the 2005 SAT college entrance exam, but their overall scores still lagged behind national and state averages.

Average verbal scores for LAUSD's Class of 2005 increased by 5 points, to 443 out of a possible 800, while math scores increased by 3 points to 458.

Nationally, math scores increased by only 2 points, to an all-time high of 520 and verbal scores remained at 508, according to The College Board, the nonprofit organization that owns the Scholastic Aptitude Test.

California students overall did better than the national average, with math and verbal scores increasing 3 points each to 522 for the math and 504 for the verbal.

``We have been on reform programs and we see change coming,'' said Esther Wong, LAUSD superintendent for institutional planning and research. ``We see it as a positive sign and promising practices.''

Wong said the district scored lower overall because Los Angeles-area students are poorer and have a higher concentration of English-language learners than their state and national counterparts.

For example, 68 percent of LAUSD students speak a primary language other than English, compared with 38 percent throughout California and 22 percent nationwide. Fifty-nine percent of LAUSD students have family incomes under $30,000 a year, compared with 26 percent in the state and 22 percent nationwide.

``There's more of a challenge and it may take them a little longer, but they continue to improve,'' Wong said, noting that nearly 46 percent of LAUSD seniors - 29,679 students - took the SAT test this year.

Nationwide, 49 percent - 1.47 million - of this year's 2.98 million high school graduates took the SAT. Average math scores for the Class of 2005 nationwide were 520 this year, compared to 518 a year ago. Math scores among girls rose by 3 points to 504, while math scores among boys rose by 1 point to 538.

Average verbal scores nationwide remained at 508, with girls' scores increasing by 1 point to 505 and boys' scores increasing by 1 point to 513.

``I am encouraged by the improvement demonstrated in math, a fundamental skill that students need to succeed in college and, later, in a highly competitive global marketplace,'' said Gaston Caperton, president of the College Board.

``However, the relatively flat trend in verbal scores indicates what we have observed for years: the need to redouble efforts to emphasize the core literacy skills of reading and writing in all courses across the curriculum starting in the earliest grades.''

College Board officials noted that state-to-state comparisons are difficult because states with a smaller percentage of students taking the test tend to have stronger academic backgrounds than those with a higher percentage of test-takers.

Thirty-eight percent of Class of 2005 SAT-takers were minorities, the largest percentage of any class to date, officials said. Thirty-six percent also were first-generation college students.

Achievement gaps between the racial/ethnic groups remain, but appear to be correlated to the number of academically challenging courses students took, parental education and family income.

For example, pre-calculus was taken by 62 percent of Asians compared with 32 percent of African-Americans, and by 54 percent of students whose parents graduated from college, compared with 37 percent of those with parents without high school diplomas.

The College Board also released preliminary test results on the SAT test that debuted this spring, which included a writing section that encompassed multiple-choice questions and a 25-minute essay.

Students nationwide scored an average of 516 on the writing test, compared to 519 on critical reading and 537 on math.

But officials noted the scores from the new test reflect only 1.4 million high school juniors who took the new test in March, May or June. These students tend to be more highly motivated and academically prepared. When complete results for the Class of 2006 are released next August, the scores are expected to be lower.

Lisa M. Sodders, [phone]

lisa.sodders(at)dailynews.com

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