SAT Scores Steady for Class of ’09
Average SAT scores in reading and writing declined by one point this year, while math scores held steady, according to a report on the high school class of 2009 released Tuesday by the College Board. Average scores on the ACT, the other major standardized test used for college admissions, were also flat, according to data released last week.
Average scores on the three sections of the SAT were 501 in critical reading, 493 in writing, and 515 in mathematics. Scores for each section of the test range from 200 to 800. Average scores last year, for the high school class of 2008, were 502 in reading, 494 in writing, and 515 in math.
More than 1.5 million college-bound seniors took the SAT, the largest group that had ever taken the test. It was also the most diverse, with 40 percent of test takers belonging to minorities, an increase from 38 percent last year and 29 percent a decade ago. Hispanic students were the fastest-growing minority, accounting for 13.5 percent of test takers, compared with 7.8 percent in 1999.
Girls outperformed boys, on average, by 13 points on the writing test, but scored 35 points lower than boys in math and 5 points lower than boys in critical reading, the College Board report said. The average scores for all three sections of the test directly reflected students’ family wealth. Students from families with an annual income above $200,000 scored, on average, 68 points higher in critical reading than students from families earning less than $20,000 per year, with similar disparities for math and writing. An even sharper correlation showed up between students’ average scores and the highest educational attainment of their parents. Students whose parents did not graduate from high school averaged 420 in critical reading, 139 points lower than students whose parents had a graduate degree, who averaged 559.
Familiar ethnic and racial gaps also appeared in the average scores. In critical reading, non-Hispanic white students on average scored 528, compared with 516 for Asian students, 455 for Hispanic ones and 429 for African-Americans. In math, Asian students averaged 587, compared with 536 for non-Hispanic whites, 461 for Hispanics and 426 for blacks. In writing, Asians averaged 520, compared with 517 for non-Hispanic whites, 448 for Hispanics and 421 for blacks.
The one-point declines in reading and writing this year mean little in the long term, said Laurence Bunin, a senior vice president at the College Board, the nonprofit group that sponsors the SAT. Over 30 years, however, average math scores have increased 22 points, from 493 in 1979 to this year’s score of 515. “That increase does appear to be meaningful,” Mr. Bunin said. Over the same period, scores in critical reading have declined, on average, by four points.
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