Hawai'i students received good news about their latest SAT college readiness scores — both math and verbal scores rose slightly over last year.

Hawai'i's average scores for graduating seniors rose two points in math and three points in the verbal portion over last year, according to a report scheduled for release today.

But at the same time, Hawai'i scores continue to lag the national average, even though Hawai'i verbal scores have risen for two years in a row while verbal scores nationally have remained the same.

The combined Hawai'i scores for public, religious and independent schools were 516 for math (out of a maximum 800) and 490 for verbal.

That compares with the national averages of 520 for math and 508 for verbal.

Colleges typically look at both the SAT and ACT scores in accepting students, but SAT scores are more widely used. About 61 percent of Hawai'i's graduating class of 2005 — or 7,878 students — took the SAT tests, compared with 49 percent of high-school graduates nationally.

However, educators say SAT scores are not the only indicator in predicting an individual student's success in college. Also important are attitude, study habits, grade-point average and an overall sense of commitment to learning.

State schools superintendent Patricia Hamamoto saw the latest numbers as a positive sign.

"The last two years of verbal score gains by public school students is particularly encouraging, especially when verbal scores were flat on the national level," said Hamamoto.

"The increase in math scores, too, kept pace with the national increase. All of Hawai'i's scores went up."

The latest SAT levels also give a clear picture of the breakdown of scoring among the public, religious and independent schools, with the independent schools scoring substantially higher than the others.

In math alone, students from independent schools scored an average of more than 100 points higher than public school students and almost 90 points ahead on verbal scores. The scores of students at religious schools fall about halfway between those.

Both the independent and religious school scores also rose, with independent students scoring 596 on math, compared with 592 last year, and 555 on verbal, compared with 545 last year.

That puts them ahead of the national average for independent schools, which is 577 for math and 553 for verbal.

The scores of graduating seniors at religious schools, too, rose over last year, with students scoring 548 in math compared with 545 last year, and 529 in verbal compared with 523 last year.

The scores put these students also ahead of the national average for religious schools in math, which is 534, but lower in verbal, which is 539 nationally.

In comparing public school students in Hawai'i with their national counterparts, scores in both math and verbal are lower than the national average.

Hawai'i public school students scored 492 in math compared with 515 nationally; they scored 467 in verbal compared with 505 nationally.

Both SAT and ACT scores are released annually, with ACT scores released in early August. The ACT test does not break out the scores of public, religious and independent schools, but does break out scores according to ethnic groups. The SAT does not break out the scores by ethnic groups, but by type of school.

Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com.