The SAT scores for last year’s Cartersville High School seniors released recently by the College Board show an increase in average scores for graduates by 38 points over the previous year.

This is the second highest composite average in the last seven years (since the addition of the required writing component of the test).

The greatest gain for Cartersville High was seen in mathematics with a mean score of 509, compared to 484 the previous year. Gains also were seen in critical reading (verbal) of 6 points to 498 and in writing of 7 points to 483.

“A modest increase or decline in any individual area is not statistically significant given the numbers of students being reported,” said Cartersville City Schools Assistant Superintendent Ken Clouse. “We look for longer trends in this type of assessment. However, any time you have an increase in any measurement it is a good thing. We are grateful to see an increase in a time where there is so much pressure on schools from all angles. It is important to view these types of tests for what they are and for what their intended value is. To use this data to compare schools, to compare states or to compare performance of a group of students from one year to another is not appropriate use of this data and that is what the designers of the test tell you.”

Clouse said caution should be exercised in making any type of comparison with SAT scores or similar measures.

“You need to look at the numbers of students and which students take the test,” Clouse said. “SAT is not a required assessment for any student. At Cartersville, we don’t necessarily preclude any students from taking the test. Many schools advise or even keep students from taking the SAT because of the unfortunate comparisons that the general public tries to make about average scores.”

According to Clouse, the 2012 report shows 167 of last year’s Cartersville High seniors took the SAT at some point during their academic career.

Last year, 68 percent of Cartersville High graduates had an SAT score reported and their score is included in the school average Clouse said.

Increasing the pool of students taking a test produces a wider range in scores and makes it more difficult to raise the average score if a group of students, Clouse said.

“It doesn’t take many low scores to drop the average of the group,” Clouse said.