Mixed results for SAT scores

Bucking a statewide trend, about half the schools in the western suburbs scored as well or better than they did last year on the reading and math portions of the SAT.

This was the first year the SAT included a writing section, which critics say makes the test too long and dragged down scores.

The clear winner was Wellesley High School, where the 266 students who took the SAT scored a combined 29 points higher on math and reading than their counterparts the year before, raising the school's combined mean score from 1,220 to 1,249.

The improvement -- coupled with the second-best performance in the state on the new writing portion -- vaulted Wellesley High from eighth place in last year's statewide SAT score rankings to second, behind only the Massachusetts Academy for Math and Science , a Worcester-based school for 100 academically advanced 11th- and 12th-graders who also take classes at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Wellesley's director of curriculum and instruction, Becky McFall , said the school system didn't do anything special to prepare students for the new test.

``We basically did what we always do," she said. ``We have a strong curriculum in general and an emphasis on writing from K through 12."

Three other high schools also showed significant improvement, with Holliston High School students raising their school's combined mean score by 29 points, Watertown by 14 points, and Medfield by 11 points.

Another eight public high schools had math and reading scores that stayed virtually the same (less than a 0.5-percent change either way) as their 2005 scores: Weston, Natick, Waltham, Marlborough, Wayland, Dover-Sherborn, Acton-Boxborough, and Nipmuc Regional in Upton.

Students in the other half of schools, including both Newton high schools, had drops in mean total reading and math scores ranging from 59 points in Ashland to 8 points at Lincoln-Sudbury.

Scores at Newton South dropped by 27 points, helping push the school down from a fourth-place statewide ranking last year to 11th. Reading and math scores at Newton North dipped even further, 32 points, pushing the mean total score down to 1,177 and dropping the school from 11th in statewide rankings to 15th.

Before the examination of the individual school scores, a Newton North guidance counselor, Brad MacGowan, said he thought the longer test affected scores.

``I can't imagine anyone saying with a straight face that anybody at the end of a three-hour-and-45-minute test wouldn't be tired. I'm tired just thinking about it," he told the Globe.

School officials couldn't be reached, however, to discuss why students in the cities and towns surrounding Newton who took the same test didn't show a similar dropoff.

Other schools that posted drops in mean total reading and math scores included Westborough, 10 points; Framingham, 15 points; King Philip Regional (Wrentham), 35 points; Algonquin Regional (Northborough), 13 points; Shrewsbury, 39 points; Medway, 37 points; Hudson, 24 points; Milford, 40 points; and Maynard, 14 points.

Ralph Ranalli can be reached at rranalli@globe.com.