The average score for the verbal portion of the test stayed at 505, while the average score on the math section dropped for the first time since 1991, to 511. Each portion is worth 800 points, for a total of 1,600 possible points. That far exceeds the 43 percent nationally who took the test. Charlotte-Mecklenburg officials said the increase in students taking the test accounts for the drop in the school system's average. These are fabulous scores.
Potter expects the math average to improve as more students take geometry early in high school.
While the district fell short of North Carolina's average by one point, Charlotte-Mecklenburg's black students surpassed their peers across the state, posting higher average scores on verbal and math portions. But Potter warned that comparing high schools is unfair because reassignments in recent years shuffled students among schools. Nationally, 1.2 million seniors took the SAT this year. In North Carolina, the percentage of high school seniors taking the test dropped from 62 percent last year to 61 percent this year. South Carolina once again saw 61 percent of its seniors take the test.