European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 8, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Whodunit with chinese accent Appolo White rigor author Rottert Nathan with Book fwd to Meare novel about China by Kay Bartlett associated Pressi t could t be a belter year Lor Robert Stuart Nathan a former journalist who dared to follow his boyhood dream of becoming a novelist. My picture was in people Magazine the 39-year-old author proclaims unabashedly i always thought i would give my left thumb to be in  Nathan s suspense novel the while Tiger a Book to had wanted to write for 23 years has just come out. It was sold in 17 different languages before the publication Date Lor somewhere around the $300.000 Mark an event so unusual that publisher s weekly put out Alivio Blurb noting the sales. Then a television network hew Nathan to los Angeles to talk mini series and a movie maker expressed interest. The Book also became an alternate Book of the month club selection. Ii will be on Sale by Christmas at stars and so rips bookstores the paperback auction had a $100,000 opening on the bidding which Means those rights will zoom sky High. Nathan s publisher Simon and schuster rolled 0 145,000 copies in hard cover a Vole of Confidence Tor a relatively unknown author. An earlier novel the religion which Nathan co authored under the Nom do plume Nicholas Conde was hurried into a John Schlesinger movie the believers. Starring Martin Sheen. It played Thio Ghoul the summer grossing a respectable $18.5 million by the beginning of August. Nathan s dream began when he was 16, sitting in the Clayton mo., Library absorbed in Theodore White s Thunder out of China. "ii1 believed in reincarnation and i Don to i d say i must have had a prior me in China he says. I was absolutely fascinated by everything chinese. I wanted to go to China when i graduated irom High school but that was when it scoring education by Lee Mitgang associated press those sat averages possess a seemingly unmatched ability to confuse the american Public bedevil educators and it off Les of criticism even when the test rcsu.,.jrdlychange, As in the Pas two years the 1987 Scholastic Al elude test results released by the College Board barely fluctuated from the previous year. Math scores graded on a scale of 200-800, averaged -176. Up a Point rom 1986, verbal averages were Down a Point Al 430. To fully appreciate Why educators from the . Secretary of education on Down would Greet this apparent none enl with torrents of anxious opinion it might help to imagine How Wall Street would Greet the release of the Dow Jones Industrial average if it came Oul but once a year. To education Secretary William j. Bennett the scores showed thai school Reform has not gone deep  to the cottage Board which sponsors the College Entrance exam taken by 1,1 million youngsters the 1987 results were a welter of Good news bad news. Good because lha scores could easily have been worse Given the Sharp increase in those taking the test  More than 1986. Good because Blacks and other minorities continued to improve scores at a relatively rapid clip. Average verbal scores among Blacks have risen 2t Points to 351, Sinco 1977, and 20 Points to 377, in math. But not Good at All considering thai minorities and women still have far to go in closing the Gap with while students who averaged 447 on the verbal Section in i 987 and 489 on Tho Malta test critics Many of whom who would gleefully attend the sat s funeral blame the race and sex disparities primarily on in so Bias. College Board president Donald Page 16 the stars and stripes m. Stewart terms this criticism simpleminded and unleashed a barrage of statistics to show that the Quality of curriculum among other things Are to blame Bui statistics showing sat scores much higher among males than females and higher among Whites than other ethnic groups and rising consistently with family income will keep the test Bias argument raging for at least another year. Students with annual family incomes of less than s 10,000 averaged 416 math and 364 verbal the Board reported. Students with family incomes of $70.000 or More averaged 523 math. 471 verbal. Still for sheer contusion and misrepresentation nothing quite rivals the annual state by Sale comparisons of sat averages. Take the example of South Carolina once again dead last among the states with a verbal sat average of 397, and a math average of 435. That state has spent hundreds of millions since 1984 and passed a myriad of Reform measures trying to upgrade schools. So should South carolinians hang their Heads maybe not considering thai combined math verbal scores in South Carolina went up a relatively Sharp 6 Points rom 1966. Then again it probably makes sense to ignore state comparisons entirety even when such comparisons come irom the . Department of education As they have the past few years. The College Board counsels against such comparisons yet dutifully provides the statistics each year would anyone care to argue for example that children in Mississippi who averaged 487 verbal and 521 math in 1987. Are getting better schooling than Connecticut youngsters who averaged 439 verbal and 473 math the Dille rence. Of course has to do with the fact thai 69 percent of Connecticut High school seniors Lake the sat compared with the 3 percent of mississippians who mostly make up the academic Cream of 1he student population. Sunday november 8, 1967 the More kids that take Tho test the greater the variety of students and the lower the scores. In Small states Only about 5 percent of the students take the test and they re the ones applying to Ivy league schools said Fred Moreno a College Board spokesman perhaps the Only sure byproduct of this annual statistical Bonanza is this the accompanying debate and confusion nourishes the sat s enduring mystique among students educators and the general Public that the sat is under siege from critics suggests its continued importance certainly not its imminent demise As an academic measurement tool. Anyone doubling that should talk to the legions of parents willing to spend $500 or More for private sat coaching firms. If they Are Worth All this fuss they must be important must t they taking the  Toek score at up  of Mia run nil it7 f v4itm my a Trout him Xvi Tai gift 431 429 470 in 429 409 4sitn 437 4�7 444 4� 424 4m 442 it 330 360 1m1 424 429 453 i 341 3m 1m 424 4� 471 47 i 342 431 475 4w i 341 3jo 431 478 a. Nal nil a 1m7 430 471 447 4w to 111 377 -4