Average SAT scores from Lawrence public schools better than national average

SAT average scores

KANSAS

Critical reading – 591

Math – 596

Writing – 566

NATION

Critical reading – 497

Math – 513

Writing – 487

LHS (44 students participated)

Critical reading – 575

Math – 578

Writing – 547

FSHS (64 students participated)

Critical reading – 627

Math – 609

Writing – 602

Once again, students in Lawrence’s public high schools posted a better average SAT score than the rest of the nation.

Just over 100 students from Lawrence High School and Free State High School took the SAT over the past year. Together they beat the national average in each of the three scoring categories: critical reading, math and writing, according to data from the Lawrence school district and the College Board, the company which owns the test.

Nationally, students who took the test over the last year scored, on average: 497 for critical reading, 513 for mathematics and 487 for writing, with a composite score of 1497, according to the College Board.

In combining the average scores from the three categories, both LHS and FSHS students posted a composite score above 1550, which the College Board sets as a “college and career readiness” benchmark.

A score of 1550 represents a 65 percent probability of earning a B- grade point average during a student’s first collegiate year, according to the College Board.

Almost 75 percent of Kansas students passed the benchmark. And statewide average scores also beat the national mark. In Kansas however, the SAT is not nearly as popular as another college entrance exam, the ACT. Five percent of students in Kansas took the SAT, compared with 24 other states in which at least half of students participated.