Of the six area school corporations, Tippecanoe Valley High School had the greatest increases in SAT mean scores in 2008 over 2007.
Scores for the other five school corporations were mixed.
The SAT has three categories, including reading, math and writing. The Indiana Department of Education released the scores for all Indiana schools Aug. 26. The mean score is obtained by adding all the scores together and dividing by the number of students who took the test.
Sixty-six TVHS students took the SAT in 2008, compared to 84 in 2007. Median SAT 2008 scores included 503 for reading, an increase of 45 points over 2007; 494 for math, 39 points over 2007; and 527 for writing, an 85-point increase over 2007.
Median scores for Warsaw Community High School and Triton Junior-Senior High School all were down.
In 2008, 266 students at WCHS took the SAT, compared to 248 in 2007. Scores in 2008 were reading, 495; math, 507; and writing, 473. In 2007, scores included reading, 500; math, 519; and 477 for writing.
Triton had 38 students take the SAT in 2008, compared to 33 in 2007. Reading was down by 28 points in 2008 over 2007, math down by 12, and writing down by nine. Median scores in 2008 were reading, 483; math, 504; and writing, 472.
Wawasee High School saw a slight increase in math and writing median scores in 2008 over 2007, but a one-point decrease in reading.
The 2008 median scores for Wawasee include 485 in reading, 501 in math and 475 in writing. The 2007 median scores included 486 in reading, 494 in Wawasee and 471 in writing. In 2007, 131 students took the SAT, compared to 126 in 2008.
Whitko High School had 65 students take the SAT in 2007 and 2008. While the reading median score remained unchanged at 491 in 2008 compared to 2007, math was down eight points and writing was up four points. The math and writing median scores were both 494 in 2008, but 502 for math in 2007 and 490 in writing.
Manchester High School's SAT median scores all went up in 2008 compared to 2007. The 2008 median scores for the 71 students who took the SAT included 504 in reading, 521 in math and 482 in writing.
The 2007 median scores for the 62 students who took the SAT included 486 in reading, 515 in math and 481 in writing.
According to a press release from the Indiana Department of Education, SAT results revealed scores for the high school class of 2008 remained relatively flat both nationally and in Indiana compared to 2007.
"Indiana's average score on the college entrance exam showed a one-point gain in math (508), a one-point drop in reading (496) and a two-point decrease in writing (481) for a combined score of 1485 (1487 in 2007). Nationally, average scores remained unchanged across the board in math (515), reading (502) and writing (494) for a combined score of 1511," according to the IDOE.
The press release states the recent SAT results disrupt Indiana's long-running trend of steady progress on the test for more than two decades.
"Despite the current decline," the DOE reports, "Indiana has gained 32 points since 1990 and narrowed the performance gap with the nation from 29 points to 13 points over that period."
Indiana's average SAT score continues to trail the national average, which is primarily attributed to a greater proportion of Hoosier students taking the SAT (62 percent) than the U.S. as a whole (45 percent), the DOE states.
