A.L. Brown seniors enjoy better scores

KANNAPOLIS — Seniors at A.L. Brown High School last year posted the school’s highest-ever average score — 988 — on the SAT college entrance exam, according to figures released today.

In reaching that mark, the 73 seniors in the class of 2001 who took the Scholastic Assessment Test bettered the 2000 average score of 910 by nearly 80 points, dramatically reversing a slide of 37 points from the previous year.

Scores increased by about 40 points each on the math and verbal components of the national test. Kannapolis students’ math score went from 454 to 495 and verbal from 456 to 493.

The improvement brought Kannapolis City Schools on par with last year’s state average and four points shy of the average score across the state this year, leaving room for both jubilation and improvement, officials said.

“We have worked extremely hard to improve our SAT scores,” Superintendent Dr. Jo Anne Byerly said. “We are pleased to see these results. However, we are still not satisfied, and we will keep working to improve our scores even more.”

In Cabarrus County Schools, the average SAT score dropped from 1013 in 2000 to 1006 last year. A slightly higher percentage of students in Cabarrus County took the test in 2001, though the actual number declined.

In Kannapolis, 36.5 percent of eligible students took the SAT in 2001, as opposed to 50.9 percent in 2000. The college board notes that scores tend to be higher with fewer students taking the test.

Nationally, the average SAT score increased by one point to 1020.

Kannapolis officials attribute the higher scores in 2001 to a number of factors:more students taking advanced courses; the A.L. Brown Cyber Campus, which offers additional advanced courses, such as Latin and AP Calculus; more students taking the PSAT, a preliminary exam to ready students for the SAT.

A.L. Brown Principal Nancy Bartles said the school has added a new advanced course this year, AP Biology, and educators there “are working to make our honors courses even more rigorous.”

“We have very high expectations of our students at A.L. Brown, and we are confident that our test scores will continue to rise,” Bartles said.

Contact Scott Jenkins at 704-797-4248 or sjenkins@salisburypost.com .