Trion High School was among the statewide leaders on the 2006 SAT, ranking fifth in Georgia with its average score.
Trion students’ average score of 1669 on the new 2400-point test placed the school on the state list of Georgia’s 25 top SAT-performance high schools.
Principal Phil Williams credited his school’s performance to several factors including an exceptional senior class, adding SAT prep classes at the school, a new AP course and becoming an official testing site for 2006.
“We’re very proud to have a SAT score this high, but it’s not really that big of a shock with the group of students that we had,” Williams said.
About 30 students of the school’s 72 seniors took the test last year, he estimated.
Another factor helping his school’s scores, Williams said, was the addition of the writing section to the SAT, which is its new third section and adds 800 points to the test scale.
The SAT was previously divided into an equally-weighted verbal and math section and scored on a 1600-point scale.
The school has always performed exceptionally well on writing assessments, he said.
“One of the things we do at Trion is work extremely hard on writing,” Williams said.
“I think with the addition of the writing component we were able to exhibit the excellent writing skills our students have.”
State Superintendent of Schools Kathy Cox praised the 25 schools whose average SAT scores ranked them at the top of the state.
“From metro Atlanta to all corners of Georgia, these high schools are models of excellence,” Cox said in a written statement. “The teachers, administrators and staff of these schools have set the bar high and their students are responding to the challenge.”
Georgia high schools with the top 25 average SAT scores
*Scores reported on new 2400-point SAT scale
1. Davidson Magnet School (Richmond County) 1752 2. Walton High School (Cobb County) 1705 3. DeKalb School of the Arts (DeKalb County) 1679 4. Northview High School (Fulton County) 1670 5. Trion High School (Trion City) 1669 6-TIE. Chamblee High School (DeKalb County) 1666 6-TIE. Chattahoochee High School (Fulton County) 1666 8. Roswell High School (Fulton County) 1663 9. Lakeside High School (DeKalb County) 1660 10. North Springs High School (Fulton County) 1647 11. Milton High School (Fulton County) 1641 12. Columbus High School (Muscogee County) 1639 13. Centennial High School (Fulton County) 1638 14. Lassiter High School (Cobb County) 1637 15. Pope High School (Cobb County) 1634 16-TIE. McIntosh High School (Fayette County) 1629 16-TIE. Brookwood High School (Gwinnett County) 1629 18. Druid Hills High School (DeKalb County) 1622 19-TIE. Lakeside High School (Columbia County) 1605 19-TIE. Starrs Mill High School (Fayette County) 1605 21. Savannah Arts Academy (Chatham County) 1604 22. Etowah High School (Cherokee County) 1599 23. Alpharetta High School (Fulton County) 1596 24. Duluth High School (Gwinnett County) 1593 25. Parkview High School (Gwinnett County) 1590
