Superintendent Daniel A. Domenech has released the scores for Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) seniors in the class of 1998 who took the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT I) Reasoning Test. On the mathematics section of the SAT I, FCPS students scored much higher than students in the nation and Virginia, with an average score of 555, compared to 512 nationwide and 499 statewide. On the verbal section of the SAT I, FCPS students also scored significantly higher than students in the nation and in Virginia with an average score of 540, compared to 505 nationwide and 507 statewide.

Commenting on the scores, Domenech said, "We are pleased with the overall upward trend in our scores over the last five years. We also think that it is especially significant that 85 percent of our students took the test, compared to 43 percent nationwide and 66 percent in Virginia. Also, the percentage of seniors taking the test who reported their ethnic background as other than white has again increased for the 11th consecutive year more than doubling from 17 percent in 1987 to 37 percent in 1998."

Following are highlights of the FCPS SAT I results. A more detailed summary will be released later this year. All data in this release represent recentered scaled scores.

• When compared with 1997 scores, the FCPS verbal score increased two points and the math score increased five points. Nationally, the verbal score remained unchanged and the math score rose one point. In Virginia, the verbal score increased one point and the math score increased two points. (See Table 1.)
• Math scores for FCPS females and males have increased 10 points since 1994. (See Table 2.)
• Verbal and math scores for all FCPS ethnic groups exceeded all national and state averages for ethnic groups. (See Table 3.)
• FCPS Asian students' scores exceeded national Asian scores by 15 points on the verbal and 10 points on the math. (See Table 3).
• FCPS African-American students' scores exceeded national African-American scores by 43 points on the verbal and 51 points on the math. (See Table 3.)
• FCPS Hispanic students' scores exceeded national Hispanic scores by 42 points on the verbal and 43 points on the math. (See Table 3.)
• FCPS White students' scores exceeded the national White scores by 40 points on the verbal and 42 points on the math. (See Table 3.)