Arizona's SAT scores above national average

PHOENIX - At Desert Vista High School in the Awhatukee Foothills it's easy to spot the students who scored a perfect 800 or close to it on the math or english portions of the SAT exam.

In the hallways of the math department the students' pictures are proudly displayed on large bulletin boards.

On some student's pictures, like Timothy Lee's, it says 800, and Lee admits he's pretty proud of his score.

"On the math section I got an 800," he said. "On the english section I got a 790."

It's not hard to find others. Maddy Gilbert, who sits in Mr. Larry Strom's statistics classes, loves her score.

"I got an 800 on the math portion of the SAT," seconded Gilbert. She credits the score to part luck and part preparation.

"I was put in math classes two years ahead of a lot of other kids," she said. "Definitely helped me prepare for it."

Among their other classmates to do well Rudy Chen and Victor Bhattacharyya -- both scored an 800.

Altogether 15 Desert Vista High School students scored a perfect 800 in math on the SAT.

Strom says Desert Vista set a goal years ago to help as many students as possible achieve a perfect score on the SAT.

"A year and half ago we had 35, but then we had another 35 kids that just missed one," he said. "They just missed one question."

While most won't score that perfect 800, new figures show Arizona's students are scoring above the national average.

That's despite the fact that the state is 49th in the country in per-pupil spending.

"You can't worry about the increased funding," said Strom. "You have to worry about the kids learning."

Strom says parents and students need to be as determined in math and english as they are in athletics, music and dance.

Lee says he doesn't think funding has as much to do with it, but instead how schools use their money.

"I don't think it's a matter of funding but rather organization," said Lee.

State Superintendent Tom Horne says the test scores show what Arizona could be with the right funding.

"If we could get the resources we need we could be one of the top states in country," Horne said.