ACT and SAT test results for the 2008 school year have been released by the Georgia Department of Education, indicating that ACT scores are rising all around the state, with SAT Reasoning Test scores remaining stagnant.

The ACT is a curriculum-based achievement test taken by high school students that can be used toward college admission. The test measures knowledge across four sections, mathematics, reading, English and science, and is scored on a scale from 0 to 36. For 2008 the composite score for students in Georgia increased to 20.6, compared to 20.3 in 2007.

“This is yet another example of the positive momentum in Georgia’s schools as teachers, students and parents are working hard to improve student achievement and performance,” said Governor Sonny Perdue in a prepared statement.

Georgia also experienced a large increase in the number of students participating in the ACT test. Statewide, 33,238 high school seniors, 38 percent, participated in the exam, a steady increase over previous years, with 29,465 in 2007 and 25,064 in 2006.

Furthermore, Georgia’s composite score is higher than the national average for each ethnic subgroup. African-Americans scored 17.4 compared to the national average of 16.9, Hispanic students scored 20.2 with the national average of 18.7, white students scored 22.3 compared to the national average of 22.1, and Asian-American students scored 23.2, beating the national average of 22.9.

“The 2008 ACT report is good news across the board,” said State Superintendent of Schools Kathy Cox in a prepared statement. “In a year when the national average went down, Georgia saw improvement in all areas by all students.”

Georgia’s composite ACT score ranking among states has improved from 44th in the nation in 2007 to 41st in 2008, with a low of 47th in 2002.

At the local level, Bremen High School experienced a sizable gain in composite scores and was recognized by the DOE as one of the state’s most improved schools for ACT scores, while Haralson County High School experienced a decrease in scores.

In Bremen, 28 students took the test, scoring an average of 20.4 on English, 20.7 on math, 20.4 on reading, 19.8 on science, with a composite score of 20.4, a two-point increase over 2007.

At Haralson County High School, 15 students took the ACT, scoring an average of 17.1 in English, 17.9 in math, 19.1 in reading and 17.5 on science with a composite of 18, down 1.9 points compared to the previous year. Comparatively, Central High School in Carroll County had a composite score of 19.2 and Carrollton High School had a composite score of 20.2.

At the state level, SAT Reasoning Test Scores remained relatively static. The SAT is divided into three sections measuring writing, mathematics and critical reading ability, with a maximum combined score of 2,400.

Georgia’s 2008 average SAT scores is 1466, compared to 1472 in 2007. Georgia is ranked 47th overall in SAT scores.

Locally, 64 Bremen students took the SAT and scored an average of 1484, with 493 on verbal, 508 on math and 483 on writing. Haralson County had 84 students take the test, scoring an average of 1369, with 470 on verbal, 457 on math and 442 on writing.

In 2007, Bremen had an average combined score of 1,456 and Haralson County had an average combined score of 1,384.

Cox has attributed the slight decline in SAT scores to high school seniors not having taken math classes under the new Georgia Performance Standards, as well as a decrease in the number of students taking the SAT more than once.

“A lot of it depends on who takes the test,” said Bremen Superintendent Stanley McCain. “They take the average; we tested about 60 students. We don’t try to discourage students from taking the SAT, and so sometimes you get students who take the SAT who probably are not planning on going to college or do not have a good enough academic record to go to college, so it has a way of skewing the average down. A lot of school systems are kind of picky about who takes the SAT. If a student wants to take it, we don’t discourage them from taking it.”