The Scholastic Aptitude Test, or SAT, is the nation's most popular college-entrance examination. Data published by the College Board, which administers the SAT, confirm Koopman's claim. In a nutshell, here's what the data show:
The first two lines in Chart 1 show that from 1995 to 2005, the national average SAT score rose 18 points while Montana scores dropped by 22 points. Only one state - Utah - had a worse record.
The last line of Chart 1 reflects the fact that SAT levels are affected by the percentage of high school seniors who take the test. States where relatively few seniors participate tend to have higher scores because those few represent a self-selected group.
Montana's participation is somewhere in the middle range of states, with 31 percent of our high school seniors taking the SAT. Chart 3 gives the breakdown of scores in states where the participation percentage was within 10 percent of Montana's.
These results are particularly striking when you note that several other states on the list have had to endure serious demographic problems from which Montana is relatively free. Arizona and Colorado face an enormous inflow of Hispanic immigrants. Nevada has had to deal with population growth far, far exceeding Montana's.
As the College Board notes, you should never compare a school system based on just one test. But these trends are roughly corroborated by other measures, including the results from the SAT's chief rival, the ACT.
Montana's slippage is not new. It dates to the 1980s, and I first identified the trend in an article published in 1992. The state's education bureaucracy admits the general trend, but has never satisfactorily explained the cause.
Why not? Rep. Koopman's article suggests one possible answer: While most other states have adopted important educational reforms since 1980, the Montana public school establishment has firmly and successfully opposed all such efforts.
Montana is almost unique in its refusal to adopt any kind of school choice, charter schools, alternative certification, performance-based merit pay, teaching hiring reform, etc., etc. This may help explain the dismal test results.
Arizona, which has improved despite great challenges, may owe some of its gains to the fact that it is a leader in the school choice movement. Colorado's stupendous improvement may be due in part to its system of charter schools. (Colorado also has had a general tax and spending limitation in effect of the kind Montana voters approved in 1998, but which our state Supreme Court threw out.)
Are SAT scores important? You bet they are: A number of factors, including the advent of U.S. News & World Report's national rankings, have made college admissions increasingly competitive. A student's hopes for a good college can depend heavily on how well he or she does on the SAT. Schools that don't prepare our kids for this challenge are schools that fail them badly. Dropping SAT scores leave Montana kids with fewer options in life.
Check out the data yourself at http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/about/news_info/cbsenior/yr2005/table3-mean-SAT-reasoning-test.pdf
Rob Natelson, a founder and former chairman of Montanans for Better Government, is a professor of law at the University of Montana. His opinions are his own, and should not be attributed to any other person or institution.
|
 |
 |
Add your comment now! Write your comment in the form below.
(Email address is for verification only. If you'd like to email a story, look for the link above)