SAT scores for students in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools were the highest in the state last year, while scores for students in the Orange County Schools put the district in the top 10 percent of school districts across the state.

Chapel Hill-Carrboro stayed on top despite being down four points to an average of 1,753. Math decreased eight points, while reading and writing were up two points each.

Average scores for each component of the test are 583 for reading, 596 for math and 574 for writing.

Scores across the nation remain unchanged in all three subject areas. Scores in North Carolina increased by two points in reading, one point in math and remained unchanged in writing.

At Chapel Hill High School, writing scores increased eight points to an average of 576, reading increased two points to an average of 578 and math decreased two points to an average of 600.

At East Chapel Hill High School , writing scores decreased four points to 572, reading increased two points to 590, and math scores decreased 11 points to 594.

"This year's SAT results are relatively unchanged, tracking the national trend," said Superintendent Neil Pedersen. "Our students continue to perform very well on this assessment that is taken by almost all of our students."

The district maintained its high percentage of students taking the test. CHCCS had a 93.1 percent participation rate. It was 93.6 percent at East and 92.3 percent at Chapel Hill High.

ACT results for CHCCS students also exceeded the state and national averages. The average composite score for North Carolina was 21.3. It was 21.1 for the nation. The average composite was 25.7 at Chapel Hill High and 25.0 at East Chapel Hill High School.

Orange County Schools

Students from the Orange County Schools scored an average of 1,043 points on the 2008 critical reading and mathematics portions of the college preparatory exam.

The overall growth on the 2008 SAT scores ranks Orange County Schools among the top 10 percent of all school districts in North Carolina.

Additionally, the district's scores are 35 points above the state average and 25 points ahead of the national average. The district's scores were buoyed by Orange High School's 40-point improvement from 2007.

"We are very excited about the gains our students have made on the SAT." said Denise Morton, chief academic officer for Orange County Schools. "Nationally, the trend has been for SAT scores to decrease or remain static from last year. Our scores have continued to increase over the course of the past five years."

The district also had a marked increase in the number of students taking the exam, with the fourth highest percentage in the state.

The school system's largest improvements were on the mathematics section of the exam. Student scores increased by an average of five points from last year's results and the district has posted a five year increase of 12 points on the exam.

"When you compare our results to the southeastern region's composite score of 999, the hard work of the students and staff, as well as the efficacy of the district's mathematics and literacy initiatives, becomes truly apparent," Morton said.