How did the class of 2024 do on the SAT in Columbus area schools? Compare scores here

For the sixth straight year, the Muscogee County School District outperformed the Georgia and United States average scores on the SAT college entrance exam.

MCSD’s average composite score of 1062 is 32 points higher than the state average and 67 points higher than the national average, according to the Georgia Department of Education’s report on SAT scores for 2024 graduates from public high schools.

But the report provides cause for concern in MCSD, which saw its average composite score dropped by 20 points compared to 2023, while the state’s fell by 15 points and the nation’s decreased by 8 points.

“We are pleased that our district’s cohort of students has once again outperformed their state and national peers in all three assessed areas (Reading/Writing, Math, and Composite),” MCSD Superintendent David Lewis said in a news release. “However, like the state and nation, we, too, experienced a decline that bears further analysis and monitoring.

“Regardless, I am proud of this cohort of students for their commitment to completing the recommended coursework and taking advantage of the SAT preparation opportunities offered by each of our high schools and during the Summer Learning program. Likewise, I am grateful to our hard-working educators, as the SAT is one measure of ultimate growth that starts in Pre-K or kindergarten and continues through high school.”

The SAT recently changed its format to digital from paper-and-pencil, ending the requirement to precisely fill in those notorious bubbles. March 2024 was the first time the new format was administered in the U.S., and that’s one factor education experts cite as a possible cause for the widespread decreased scores .

GaDOE communications director Meghan Frick offered two others.

“While we can’t speak with certainty on the reason for any change in scores, it’s worth noting that these students had a particularly formative part of their educational experience disrupted by the pandemic,” Frick told the Ledger-Enquirer in an email. “They were in eighth grade in 2019-20 and ninth grade in 2020-21. And, as you noted, changes in participation can lead to decreases in average scores.”

Participation in Georgia increased from 50% of the state’s senior class in 2023 to 52% in 2024. The number of MCSD students in the senior class who took the SAT remained the same, at 685, from 2023 to 2024.

Among MCSD’s nine high schools, three have composite SAT scores better than the state and national averages: Columbus 1207, Rainey-McCuller 1053 and Northside 1042.

Two MCSD high schools improves their composite SAT scores compared to last year, led by Shaw with a 22-point increase to 942, followed by Spencer with a 1-point increase to 925. Northside remained at 1042.

The composite scores at the other MCSD high schools decreased: by 30 points to 955 at Hardaway, by 29 points to 1207 at Columbus, by 16 points to 914 at Carver, by 14 points to 916 at Jordan, by 11 points to 917 at Kendrick and by 9 points to 1053 at Rainey-McCullers.

Harris County

Harris County High School still has the second-highest composite SAT score in the Columbus area, but it dropped by 18 points to 1061.

“I realize that nationwide, the Class of 2024 was challenged in a unique way regarding the SAT,” Harris County School District secondary curriculum and instruction director Donna Patterson told the Ledger-Enquirer in an email. “Not only was the test presentation different (digital versus paper), but there were other differences as well.

“With the new SAT being an adaptive assessment, it underwent a shift in format and timing. Some students take the SAT multiple times, and for them, the Spring 2024 SAT was like a completely different test from previous SATs they had taken.”

Nonetheless, the HCHS composite score continued to surpass the state and national averages.

“This success is a reflection of the strong partnerships between teachers, students and their families,” Patterson said, “which results in high-quality teaching and learning.”

The number of HCHS students in the senior class taking the SAT fell from 175 last year to 127 this year.

“Many colleges and universities across the nation did not require an entrance exam for Fall 2024, and most are not planning to require one for Fall 2025,” Patterson said. “This had, and will continue to have, an impact on student participation in the SAT everywhere.”

Chattahoochee County

Chattahoochee County High School is another local school with a double-digit decrease in its SAT composite score, by 28 points to 915.

But the number of students in Chattahoochee County’s senior class who took the SAT increased by seven to 50.

The Ledger-Enquirer didn’t reach Chattahoochee County Superintendent Kristie Brooks for comment about her district’s scores.

LOCAL SCORES

The years in this chart represent the average scores of the students in the graduating class of that school or group, not necessarily when they took the test. They are ranked here in order of their class of 2024 scores.