However, African American and Asian Americans' scores remained steady within five points of last year's scores in both the verbal and math sections. To boost scores, Chong said a continued stress on math and English skills is imperative and that schools should look at teaching test-taking strategies as well. While private test-prep courses have paid off for plenty of students, poorer ones often cannot afford them, he said. Chin hopes for more after-school tutorial sessions and better counseling services at junior high and high schools. He would also like to find ways to increase parent or guardian participation.
Studies show that when whole families are involved in a child's education, the kids score better.
The district already offers SAT practice tests, which many believe has helped improve real scores. District spokesperson Elaine Koury said the district began giving practice tests to sophmores and juniors three years ago. Not only are the practice tests given, but teachers take the time to score them like the real thing, to give students an idea of how they would do on the real test. Last year, principals, assistant principals and teachers took the practice tests along with students so that instructors might gt a flavor for the questions on the test, too, said Koury. The year before the district began the program, the average math score was 503 and the average verbal was 446, both below the state and national averages.