Why have SAT scores gone down for five consecutive years?

Testing results from the state Department of Education show that the Newport-Mesa Unified School District’s SAT scores have declined for five consecutive years. Why might that be?

When California embraces systemic reform of public education -- which will happen in part if propositions 74, 75, 76 and 77 are approved by voters Nov. 8 -- then we will see better scores.

Right now, even with implementation of the muchmaligned No Child Left Behind Act and California’s rigorous standards, our dysfunctional educational bureaucracy appears stuck in its unwillingness to completely align curriculum with the SAT and other tests.

Teachers’ unions and special interest groups, which influence Sacramento legislators with hefty donations, have impeded progress in our local schools for years. Absent leadership at the state and local level, there is no will to eliminate mediocre curricula and methods that adequately prepare all students for tests, college courses or real life.

Better planning by the school district is needed, starting in middle school. With recent major changes in the SAT, which now require students to write an essay, more attention to mastery of the English language is a priority. Had we listened to the late semanticist S.I. Hayakawa, who founded US ENGLISH in 1983, we would have emphasized that all students must learn to write and speak English, and our present troubles would be fewer.

A harsh reality of the SAT is that parents are forced to pay for a private test preparation program to assure their students’ success. These programs, such as Kaplan or Ivy West, use coaches who tutor students one-on-one or in a classroom setting for weeks prior to the test. Those who have taken the courses say they are worth the money. But these programs can cost thousands of dollars, and of course, not everyone can afford them.

I have a 16-year-old high school junior busy with homework, sports, school and community activities. I am weighing my options to give her the boost she needs to succeed on the SAT next spring. As an involved, taxpaying parent, it would be nice to have the school adequately prepare her for the test. But the reality is that until the heart of the California education system is reformed, I will have to foot the bill for a tutoring program. Hopefully the governor’s education initiatives will succeed.

* WENDY LEECE is a Costa Mesa parent, former school board member and member of the city’s parks and recreation commission.

Like it or not, the SAT is a key benchmark. Steadily declining SAT scores are a problem, especially since high school curricula are now supposedly so focused on college prep. These numbers will probably drop even more in coming years, because the newly added essay portion of the SAT requires actual writing. I’ve seen a lot of high school writing lately, and I’m not encouraged. Our kids are obviously not being adequately prepared. The preparedness starts at the beginning, so it’s not all on the high schools. Class sizes are still too large in many primary schools, and many kids still get to high school without fundamentals.

Particularly concerning are the comments of school district officials as they attempt to rationalize this away with their own interpretations of statistics and facts. A district official says that there are now more kids taking the SAT, so therefore, we must lower expectations and accept that some of these extra kids just aren’t quite that bright and thus drag down the average. An assistant principal says that API scores are a better sample because they encompass the whole student body. So a bigger sample is a more accurate indicator on one hand and less accurate on the other hand. And, of course, when API scores are questioned, we are guaranteed to hear that they’re not an accurate measure either, because it’s just a test, and we’re not teaching to just one test.

It’s a shell game, moving from one excuse to another, never answering the question that I’d like to get answered someday, which is, “What’s the real benchmark?” And, sorry, but the answer cannot be the usual litany of, “It can’t be measured” or “It’s a moving target” or “There are too many variables.” The SAT is a really sound and completely accurate measure of one thing -- the ability to score well on the key test required to get into college. That’s a pretty real-world skill set, and if our kids are steadily doing worse on average, then they have been shortchanged.

* MARK GLEASON is a Costa Mesa resident and parent.

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