SACRAMENTO — California's public high school class of 2003 showed steady progress on both the verbal and math portions of the SAT I, improving by an aggregated total of 6 points in the past year, according to figures released today by The College Board.

The state's public high school scores for the verbal section of the SAT increased four points — from 490 to 494 — over last year, while math scores improved two points — from 516 to 518. Nationally, the average verbal score for public school students was 503 and math was 513.

Overall, the scores for the nation's 1.4 million SAT takers attending both public and private high schools rose a significant three points on each section over last year. The average verbal score was 507 and the average math score was 519.

In addition, the number of SAT takers in California public schools continued to climb along with the scores. Nearly half (46.1 percent) of college-bound seniors took the test, compared to about 40 percent of public school seniors nationally. Nearly 137,000 California public high school students took the college entrance exam — a 4 percent increase over last year.

"I am very encouraged by the turnout and by the results. More students are taking the test and more students are performing better," said State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell. "It is clear that California students are setting their sights on higher education."

O'Connell also pointed out that the improved scores mirror the gains made by all of California's school children.

"This continues the positive trend of steady progress we have been making in California to improve academic performance. That trend was validated earlier this month when we saw our fifth straight year of gains in our state assessment tests," O'Connell said.

Scores on the SAT verbal exam increased for African American, Mexican American, Asian, and white students attending California's public high schools.

Over the past five years, the ethnic composition of the population has changed slightly, with Hispanics showing increases and whites showing decreases. These changes could be explained, in part, by the marked increase in those who decline to state their ethnicity.

During this same time period, the number of public high school students in California taking the SAT has increased at a rate of more than 4,000 students per year, with 60 percent of this arising from the increased number of girls taking the test.

For more information on state and national SAT results, please visit http://www.collegeboard.com (Outside Source).