High schoolers
gain on SAT

Hawaii's college-bound students scored higher this year on the SAT than last year, both in math and verbal, but still fell short of the national average, according to data released today by the College Board.

The average score for Hawaii students rose two points in math, to 516, and three points in verbal, to 490, out of a possible score of 800 in each subject. That compares with a national average of 520 in math and 508 in verbal.

The SAT factors heavily in college admission decisions. It is more popular among Hawaii students than the college-entrance ACT test, whose results were released earlier this month.

In Hawaii, 61 percent of the Class of 2005 took the College Board SAT, compared with 49 percent of the nation's high school graduates. Generally, scores tend to decline with a larger pool of test takers.

Hawaii's current crop of graduates outpaced last year's on both math and verbal in each category of schools -- public, independent private, and religious.

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"The last two years of verbal score gains by public school students is particularly encouraging, especially when verbal scores were flat on the national level," said Superintendent Patricia Hamamoto. "The increase in math scores, too, kept pace with the national increase."

While Hawaii's public school students made gains, they still performed worse than their national counterparts on both math and reading.

Math scores for public school students came in at 492, compared with 515 for national public school students. Hawaii's public verbal school score of 467 remains far below the national average of 505 for public school students.

And those scores for the average public school student in Hawaii fall short of the guidelines for admission to the University of Hawaii at Manoa. The university expects applicants to score at least 510 in each subject, according to Janice Heu, interim director of admissions and records.

Private independent school students continued to dominate the rankings. Students in Hawaii's private independent schools made a 10-point jump in verbal scores this year after slipping slightly last year. Their verbal score of 555 exceeded the national average of 553 for independent schools.

In math, students at independent schools in Hawaii continued to far exceed the average for independent students nationwide, with a 596 score compared with 577.

Among religious schools, Hawaii's students bested their national peers in math, at 548 compared with 534. But Hawaii's religious school students remained behind in verbal, 529 to 539, although they narrowed the gap over last year's.