Beaufort County’s public high school students performed below the state and national averages on the 2011 SAT.

Beaufort County’s average combined SAT score was 1369 this year, according to a recent report from The College Board.

The state average score is 1475.

The national average score is 1500.

Washington High School had the highest overall score in the county, followed by Northside High School and Southside High School.

WHS students scored lower in math and reading in 2011 than in 2010.

Northside students scored lower in math and reading this year than in 2010.

Southside students scored higher in math and reading this year than last.

In a statement, one leading school official indicated more local students have been taking the SAT over the past three years.

“We are thrilled to see a continuous climb in the number of our students taking the SAT since 2009,” Don Phipps, superintendent of Beaufort County Schools, said in a statement.

“One of the exciting factors in the 2011 statistics was the participation of students from the Beaufort County Ed Tech Center, our alternative school,” Phipps said. “It is our goal to best prepare our students for the next step out of high school, and we are equally as invested in students heading to work as we are those who are continuing their education. With the current economy and the impact finances play on the pursuit of post-high school studies, seeing a continued increase in participation is very exciting.”

Statewide, 67 percent — 62,149 students — of the state’s high school seniors took the college admissions test this year, reads a news release from the N.C. Department of Public Instruction.

This was the largest percentage of seniors taking the SAT in the state’s history, according to the release.

“I’m pleased to see that a large percentage of our graduating seniors are considering pursuing their education after they graduate from high school,” June Atkinson, state schools superintendent, was quoted as saying in the release. “I hope that as North Carolina’s high school graduation rate continues to increase so will the number of students seeking education beyond high school.”