SAT Scores See Biggest Decline Since 1975
Latest Results Raise Questions
About Value of the Revised Exam
As Number of Test-Takers Falls
By ROBERT TOMSHO
August 30, 2006; Page D1
The high-school class of 2006 suffered the biggest drop in SAT scores in more than three decades -- a development that may raise more questions about the recently revamped exam than the students who took it.
The College Board, the New York nonprofit that gives the admissions test, says scores in critical reading -- formerly known as verbal -- fell by five points to 503, out of 800 possible points. Math scores slipped two points, to 518, also out of 800 points. The combined decrease of seven points is the biggest since 1975, when there was a 16-point drop. Overall, math scores had been rising in the past decade, while reading has been relatively flat; there have been occasional small declines in either or both scores.
The scores announced yesterday were the first to fully reflect the revised test introduced in March 2005. Along with a writing section that consists of an essay and multiple-choice questions, the new test added higher-level algebra and did away with analogy questions on the reading section. Requiring nearly four hours to complete, the test has a possible score of 2,400 points, up from 1,600 points with the old 2½-hour test.
Scores on the new writing tests averaged 497 points out of 800, with females averaging 502, 11 points higher than males.
Despite the decline in scores, the news may not be all bad for students and their families. Some testing-industry executives suggested that this year's high-school seniors should actually now set their sights slightly higher when choosing where to apply for college. That's because other students vying for spots may have disappointing results. Moreover, there is confusion among some college admissions officials over how to assess scores for the revised SATs, so schools may not weigh the test as heavily.
"This is not a year to be conservative," says Seppy Basili, senior vice president of Washington Post Co.'s Kaplan Inc., the test-prep concern. "I think admissions offices could look differently" at test scores.
In announcing the scores, Gaston Caperton, the College Board's president, called the revised SAT "a better measure of the skills students need to succeed in college and work," and minimized the scoring decline, saying: "Mathematically, it means almost nothing."
But such sudden shifts are a rarity in college-admissions testing and this one comes at a time when the College Board is struggling to restore its own credibility after a scoring scandal. It is also seeing a decline in the number of students taking the SAT, amid competitive pressure from ACT Inc., which reported big scoring gains on its own college-admissions test earlier this month.
Given the College Board's recent problems, some admissions professionals say they don't think the SAT results have much to do with a sudden change in the nation's public schools or the quality of this year's graduating class. "I doubt people will pin it to anything other than the test itself," says David Hawkins, director of public policy of the National Association of College Admissions Counseling.
Except for the new writing test, the College Board had promised the results could be compared with previous years, so that a 650 score in math or reading on the old test would be equivalent to that same score on the revised versions.
But the latest data contained results that some testing executives found unusual. Students from families with annually earnings of over $100,000 -- presumably best able to afford prep courses -- had a 5-point decline in critical reading; students from families earning under $10,000 had a 3-point gain. While black and Mexican-American students had average reading gains of 1 point, average scores for whites dropped by 5. The SAT was redesigned in part to reduce the impact of socio-economic issues on test takers. But a College Board spokeswoman says that it's too soon to tell if gains by minorities are due to that.
College Board officials attributed many changes to a decline of 3%, or 41,000 students, in the number of students taking the test more than once. The average score for students who took the SAT more than once was 1,068 points, compared with 968 for one-time test takers. Asian-Americans and whites have traditionally retaken the test at higher rates than other ethnic groups. Only students' most-recent test scores were used to compile the SAT data.
The College Board's standing was shaken in March when it acknowledged errors that caused more than 4,000 test-takers to receive erroneously low scores, stopping some from getting scholarships or applying to select schools. Earlier this month, one of its contractors said it lost sections of several hundred Advanced Placement tests administered in May.
College Board officials said yesterday they are confident in the accuracy of the latest results noting that, among other changes, they now scan every test twice with different machines, on different days.
The SAT report also noted that, for the first time in 15 years, the number of students taking the test fell. The decline was only about 9,519 students, or less than 1% of the nearly 1.5 million total. But it came after the ACT reported that 1.2 million 2006 graduates took its test, up 2% or about 20,000 students from a year earlier. "Students are shifting to the ACT," says Jack Jennings, president of the Center on Education Policy, a think-tank that tracks education reform. "It's on the way up."
Indeed, with almost all universities now accepting the ACT, whose coverage was once largely confined to the Midwest and parts of the South, many guidance counselors and admissions consultants around the country say they are advising high-school students to also take the ACT.
Kira Iles, a senior at Loyola School, a private high school in Scarsdale, N.Y., says knowing that made her feel more relaxed when she took the ACT in June. "I just went in there thinking it was not as big of a deal," says Ms. Iles.
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