Scholastic Aptitude Test

Students at Glendale's three high schools scored lower on the Scholastic Aptitude Test in 1994 than they did last year, but still managed to beat the average score for students in California and nationwide. Hoover High students increased their average score this year in the verbal portion of the SAT, the annual test given to college-bound high school students.

Average scores on the ACT college entrance exam held steady in 1991 from the previous year, and test officials hailed the results as a sign that minority students are gaining in academic achievement. The 1991 average composite score was 20.6, unchanged from 1990. Scores on the four-part exam, the predominant college entrance test in 28 states, mainly in the West and Midwest, have barely moved since 1987, when they averaged 20.8. The multiple-choice test is scored on a scale of 1 through 36.

Stanley H. Kaplan, the founder and namesake of the nation's first test-preparation company, died of heart failure Sunday at his home in New York City. He was 90. Kaplan started a tutoring company in his parents' Brooklyn home in 1938. In 1946, a student asked him to help her prepare for what was then called the Scholastic Aptitude Test. "I was there at the right time with the proper educational approach," Kaplan told the New York Times in 1981. "I consider myself a poor man's private school."

Cleve Cheng knew he would do well on the Scholastic Aptitude Test. A straight-A average at Van Nuys High School and three successes on the preliminary exam told him that much. Even so, the results surprised him: a perfect score of 1,600. "It was a shock," the 15-year-old junior from West Hills said Monday. "I never expected 1,600." Nearly 2 million high school students annually sweat through the standardized test, widely used by colleges as a measure of applicants' academic prowess.

Re "SAT's Gender Gap Widening," Aug. 29: The questions should not be: 1) Is the Scholastic Aptitude Test gender-biased toward focused, aggressive males? 2) Are the classroom grades gender-biased toward verbal, socially skilled females? 3) Do the two genders take different course preparation materials prior to the tests? The question should be, what produces the best long-term results for our society? In other words, would any change from the present system create a better-performing, problem-solving work force?

Traditional methods of training teachers, testing students and selecting textbooks are so flawed they may derail creative efforts to improve learning, a report said Sunday. Lynne V. Cheney, chairwoman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, used a mandated congressional report to criticize basic U.S. educational practices.

A majority of a group of Calabasas and western San Fernando Valley high school students, whose scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Test were invalidated after an investigation determined that some may have obtained answers in advance, will retake the test this weekend, exam officials said Wednesday. The officials said most of the approximately 20 students affected chose to retake the exam, a broad test of verbal and math skills that plays a key role in determining college admission.

A woman who makes her living helping people hear wants to plug up the ears of a few high school students. It's part of an experiment to determine the effect of complete silence on the Scholastic Aptitude Test scores of local students, who are taking the test next month. Michele Wilson, an Irvine audiologist and speech pathologist, is following up on the doctoral dissertation she made while studying at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., where she earned a Ph.D. in audiology.

Here are the district average scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Test for 1992 graduating seniors in the 49 school districts of Los Angeles County. Scores can range from 200 to 800 in each of the test's two sections. Comparing districts based exclusively on averages is strongly discouraged by the testing agency because the percentage of students tested in each district can vary widely and skew the averages.

High school students have long wanted the option of taking the SAT in the summer. That's when many of the tutoring programs for the high-stakes college test are given, so the information would be fresh in the students' minds. The timing also would allow them to study for the test when they have more leisure, rather than during the academic year. Now, finally, this August, the College Board will offer a summer administration of the test - but only at a $4,500 summer program being held on the campus of Amherst College in Massachusetts, giving some 50 students who are already heavily advantaged an additional leg up. This was a terrible decision by the College Board, owner of the SAT. It's worth remembering that when the SAT (which stood for Scholastic Aptitude Test at the time; now it's simply an acronym)