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SAT Scores Top National Average Despite Slight Decline
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 22, 2020
Paulding SAT Scores Top National Average Despite Slight Decline in Unprecedented Year
For the first time since the test was redesigned in 2017, Paulding County students have surpassed the nationwide average SAT score, recently released results from the College Board show. The Paulding County School District’s average combined SAT score of 1,032 topped the national average of 1,030, but still trailed the state average of 1,043.
Likely due to the unprecedented environment in the spring of 2020 brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, SAT scores declined at the national, state, and local levels. Overall, the national average score declined nine points, the state average score declined five points, and the PCSD average score declined eight points. The 2020 drop halted what had been a three-year trend of improving scores for PCSD.
The pandemic forced PCSD to close all schools to in-person instruction on March 13, 2020 and resulted in numerous SAT testing opportunities being canceled or rescheduled. The disruption is evident in the number of Paulding County students taking the test, which fell from 1,245 students in 2019 to just 1,120 in 2020.
“This has been a year unlike any before,” said Superintendent Dr. Brian Otott, “so I am not at all surprised to see that SAT scores declined at the national, state and local levels. In times like these it is important to focus on the positives, which are that two of our high schools showed improvement over 2019, and, as a whole, Paulding students surpassed the national average. That’s a lot to build on, and I think that once we return to some normalcy as far as the pandemic goes, we will once again see PCSD students resume the trend of steady improvement that we were experiencing before COVID arrived.”