The Coweta County School System’s average score on the SAT was 1,496 in 2015, placing the system six points above the national average and 46 points above the state average on the college entrance exam.
School system spokesman Dean Jackson said Coweta’s average SAT score was unchanged from 2014. National SAT averages decreased by 7 points to 1,490, and Georgia’s average SAT score rose 8 points to 1,450 in 2015.
SAT averages for Coweta County’s three high schools, the state of Georgia and the nation as a whole were released by the College Board on September 3.
Jackson said the school system’s average SAT score places it in the top 10 percent of school districts in the state, with the 17th highest average score among the 180 Georgia district averages reported by College Board in 2015. Coweta County ranks 8th out of the 23 Georgia districts with 500 or more test-takers during 2015.
Overall, the total scores reported for Coweta County’s three high schools showed East Coweta with score of 1,503, Northgate with a score of 1,497 and Newnan with a score of 1,483, Jackson said.
The SAT is a college entrance exam that is developed, administered and scored by the College Board. The SAT is designed to test the subject matter learned by students in high school and the critical thinking skills necessary to succeed in college. The test has three sections – critical reading, mathematics and writing – each worth 800 points, for a highest possible score of 2,400.
“Our community can be proud of these results,” said Superintendent Steve Barker. “We are proud of our students’ performance on the SAT, and we are proud of our schools and teachers. Our SAT results represent quality teaching and learning taking place throughout these student’s educational careers, at all grade levels and schools. These students come from every corner of our county, and their success began in their elementary school and has continued through middle and high school.”
Barker said this year’s SAT performance also reflects a trend of Coweta County school system performance noted by the Center for American Progress in 2014, in its national “Return on Educational Investment” survey of school districts. County School System was one of only 20 Georgia school systems out of 174 surveyed to receive the highest rank in that study, referencing high levels of student performance and lower per-pupil educational costs.
“This is one more indicator that Coweta County citizens are receiving a good return on their educational investment in these students and our schools,” said Barker.
Coweta County students’ performance not only exceeded national averages on the SAT in 2015. The school system also exceeded the national average Composite score on the ACT college entrance exam in 2015, with a 21.2 average score compared to 21.0 for the state and nation.
A total of 762 Coweta County students took the SAT in 2015, up from 707 in 2014. In the 2015 reporting of average ACT results, 863 Coweta seniors took the exam and 885 took the exam in 2014 (SAT averages are reported for all students who took the exam during the year, while the ACT reports results by senior class).
“It is important that we prepare our students to do well on both exams,” said Mark Whitlock, Director of Public Policy for the Coweta County School System. “So I think it is significant that we have seen Coweta’s ACT average rise, and outperform the state and now the nation, and Coweta’s SAT averages outperform the state and nation, as well. That suggests, most importantly, that Coweta County students will have a wide diversity of college admission opportunities.”
