European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 28, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 b the stars and stripes wednesday August 28, 1991sat scores for students hit new Low by Lee Mitgang a education writer new York a Scholastic aptitude test scores Sank to record Levels this year but along with the depressing figures came a Kernel of Good news. Averages on the verbal part of the sat slumped two Points in the 1990-91 school year to an All time Low of 422, the College Board said monday. Verbal scores have fallen steadily since 1985, when they stood at 431. Math averages dipped for the first time in 11 years a two Point drop to 474. The perfect score for each Section is 800. A the simple fact is that even our Best students generally done to know enough and can to do enough to assure Success in tomorrows world a said education Secretary Lamar Alexander. But some experts said there is Good news in the 60-Point drop in sat scores since records were kept in 1969 More minorities Are striving for College. Researchers inside and outside the College Board sponsor of the test taken each year by 1 million High school juniors and seniors applying for College question whether sat declines mean that nearly a decade of school Reform has failed. To use the sat to judge Public education As some politicians and others do is. A dubious proposition. For starters the exam is taken each year by roughly a 45th of the student population. Those who take the test Are a self selected hence unrepresentative group. Educational testing service research sat scores 1991 Scholastic aptitude test average score results for All groups of students verbal scores Heath scores pm car. Co to co All students Black mexican american puerto rican asian american White so Shah Ham concludes that half the eight Point decline in verbal scores Between 1987 and 1990 was due to the increasing proportion of minority and bilingual test takers who a generation ago never dreamed of College said Robert g. Cameron senior research associate at the College Board. Ets the Princeton  organization that administers the sat is to release the research this fall. Minority students make up 28 percent of students taking the sat compared with 11 percent in 1973. An additional 16 percent Are from bilingual backgrounds. In an earlier paper titled a a let a have another sat score decline a Harvard education lecturer Harold Howe ii argued that declines stretching Back to the a amps Wes Booher 1960s stemmed mainly from the growing presence of Low scoring minority students who for the first time joined White students in seeing selective colleges As realistic options. Thus Howe wrote the sat slump is not evidence of failing schools but of the far More Welcome news that minority students Are striving for College. Parents and schools could do More to improve the scores. The sat a verbal Section tests vocabulary and Reading comprehension. Students who watch endless television at Home and never visit a Library Are at a disadvantage. A there is firm evidence that parental influence is very important a said Camer on. A things like outside Reading and being read to at Home really  schools Bear considerable responsibility when they done to require rigorous courses assign enough Homework or encourage outside Reading. Test scores from students in the department of defense dependents schools usually come a few weeks after the scores for stateside students said Mary Johnson evaluation accreditation and budget program manager for the school systems Headquarters in Washington. Because of the nature of the school system accurate data a sometimes take a Little longer a she said. A we want to be sure we Are reflecting Only Dodds scores not someone else. It takes a bit More  the military overseas school system traditionally is close to or above the National average on almost All the performance indicators used by the department of education to rank . State schools. Dodds officials done to expect that to change this year officials said tuesday. A we Are anticipating that the scores will show that students Are competitive with other . College bound students scores a Johnson said. The military system last year had an average combined math and verbal sat score of 912 Points compared with the . Average of 903. A maximum score is 1,600. Dodds also slightly topped . Schools in the percentage of students scoring 600 or above on the verbal portion of the test last year but lagged slightly behind in the category for the math  of future does t mar thrill of first school Day by Jimi Jones education writer Mannheim Germany a Little Patrick Prince was excited. So much so that he roasted his dad out of bed at 6 . Monday. It was Patrick a first Day of school and he did no to want to miss a thing. A the knew i was going to bring him in so he woke me this morning which is very rare for him and told me it was time we had no reports from any District about any significant problems a Frank of Gara spokesman for the Dodds Germany Region to take him to school Quot said army master ski. Phillip Prince. Quot we be been Here Ever  the father and anxious son arrived at Mannheim elementary school at 7 15 . Monday Well before the Bell would sound to begin Patrick a first Grade class at 8 45 . Patrick waited patiently but said he was ready to get started learning a stuff like Reading and writing Quot after having Learned All the important things kindergarten offered. A you have to learn from kindergarten before you go to first Grude Quot Patrick explained. And some of the things you must know before first Grade Are Quot to write to play Nice and to keep your hands and your feet to yourself a the Wise 6-year-old said. Patrick was one of nearly 103,000 children who returned to department of defense dependents schools in Europe on monday amid much talk about closing schools declining enrolments and fewer teachers. A amps Dave Casey Mannheim first grader Patrick Prince  wait to begin his first Day of school. But officials in the three european regions said Overall school year 1991-92 began like most others and went Well. A we had no reports from any District about any significant problems a said Frank of Gara the Germany regions spokesman. A it seems to have been a very smooth opening of  the Mediterranean Region also reported a smooth opening. A we had All the typical things that went right and went wrong but we Haven to heard of anything that was a major problem a said Dave Labuhn spokesman for the Mediterranean Region. Georgia Williams Scaife the Atlantic regions director said her schools also experienced a smooth opening. A the word in a getting is everything went Well. We had no bus breakdowns or anything a Williams Scaife said. Bus breakdowns Are usually expected. Williams Scaife said that despite some major facility problems in some areas Only one school Bermuda requested a delayed opening. A we said no a she said. A the first Day of school is so important to parents. Its like Apple pie in America. They would rather put up with a Little debris perhaps not having All the chairs in or carpet rather than have their kids not experience the first Day of school on schedule a she said. The Region projected 14,827 students but so far 14,149 have registered Wil Liams Scaife said. However a we have been told by every Community that our projection will materialize. In most cases we Are finding we Are beyond what we projected a she said. Germany a schools opened with about 3.000 fewer students than it had projected of Gara said tuesday. A your Flash enrolment report shows schools opened with 77,214 students a of Gara said. A we were expecting 80,000. Generally the trend is that enrolment peaks at the end of  of Gara said the Region had enough teachers because it based its staffing on 80.000 students. The Region hired about 200 teachers from the United states this year he said five of whom have yet to arrive. They Are completing stateside processing he said. Labuhn said Mediterranean schools opened at about 93 percent of the projected figure Down by about 1,500 students. The decrease is a partly because kids Haven to enrolled and partly because we closed three schools a Labuhn said. Schools in Athens Greece and Comiso Sicily and Decimo Mannu Sardinia closed earlier this year. He said 11,678 students had enrolled by the end of last week. A most of our schools Are running at about 95 recent of projected enrolment a he said. Labuhn said the Region was Short two teachers but they were expected to be in place by the end of the week. Like Patrick most kids returning to school done to yet have the worry of the future but they do have their own apprehensions about returning to school. For example 10-year-old Tony Hughes was a a scared on his first Day in fifth Grade at Mannheim elementary school because a some people say the teachers Are mean a he said. Sicley Robinson also a fifth grader was a scared she would mess up or  although she attended the school last year and knows the routine a it changes sometimes a she said. Her goals for the year Are to a make a a and bus and new