SAT Scores Down

Large 2011 SAT Score Decline Shows Failure of “No Child Left Behind"

Submitted by fairtest on September 14, 2011 - 1:20pm

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for use with annual SAT scores release – 11:00am, Wednesday, September 14, 2011

LARGE SAT SCORE DECLINE SHOWS FAILURE OF “NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND” AND STATE HIGH-STAKES TESTING STRATEGY; FAIRTEST ASKS: “HOW MANY WAKE-UP CALLS DO POLICY-MAKERS NEED?”

Plunging SAT results released today show that, “’No Child Left Behind’ (NCLB) and state high-stakes testing programs are undermining school quality, even when measured by other standardized exams,” according to Bob Schaeffer, Public Education Director of FairTest, the National Center for Fair & Open Testing. Schaeffer continued, “With exploding cheating scandals and declines in college readiness scores, how many wake-up calls do policy-makers need before they admit that their test-and-punish strategy is a failure?”

A FairTest analysis shows that overall SAT averages dropped significantly under the NCLB federal testing mandate. At the same time, gaps between Whites, Asians, and historically disadvantaged African-Americans and Hispanics have been growing larger. ACT scores, made public last month, demonstrated similar patterns. Scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) also indicate that educational progress slowed in the NCLB era. Under NCLB, every public school student must be tested annually in grades three through eight and at least once in high school in both reading and math.

“Proponents of NCLB and similar state-level testing programs promised that overall achievement would improve while score gaps would narrow,” Schaeffer continued. “Precisely the opposite has taken place. Policymakers need to embrace very different policies if they are committed to real education reform.”

Schaeffer added, “Fortunately, many colleges have recognized the folly of fixating on the narrow, often inaccurate, information provided by standardized tests and moved toward test-optional admissions.” According to a free web database maintained by FairTest (http:www.fairtest.org/university/optional), more than 860 accredited, bachelor-degree granting institutions make admissions decisions about all or many applicants without regard to SAT or ACT scores. The list includes 35 of the nation’s 100 top-ranked liberal arts colleges.

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	Click here to see the 2011 SAT score report.
	Click here for the above Press release and 2011 SAT score report in one printable PDF .
	See more of FairTest's Analysis of the 2011 SAT & ACT Scores, as well as previous years materials.

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SAT reading and math scores down in 2011, says College Board

September 14, 2011 | 1:21pm

This post has been corrected. See the note at the bottom for details.

More bad news on the national education front: The College Board announced Wednesday that the mean SAT reading score for the high school class of 2011 fell 3 points from 2010's mean -- to 497, making it the lowest reading score since 1972.

The average math score dipped to 489, 1 point lower than last year. And the mean writing score dropped 2 points from last year's score.

And then there's this: The board found that just 43% of college-bound seniors met the SAT benchmark score of 1550 (the critical-reading, mathematics and writing scores combined). The benchmark score indicates that a student has a 65% likelihood of achieving a B- or higher during the first year of college. And remember, that's 43% of students who are planning to go to college.

Not awesome.

In a statement sent to news outlets, Jeanne Allen, president of the Center for Education Reform, articulated what some people might feel after reading the SAT report. "Student achievement remains stagnant and we continue to let failure fester in our education system, jeopardizing the future of our children and our country," she said.

The organization that offers the ACT, the nation's other college-entrance exam, recently announced that just 25% of students who took its test met all four of that group's readiness benchmarks.

But the College Board managed to put some positive spin on the seemingly dire statistics. In the news release, the board pointed out that more college-bound students in the class of 2011 took the SAT than any other high-school graduating class in history. Also, the class of 2011 was the most diverse class in history to take the SAT.

According to the College Board, as different types of students start taking the SAT, it is inevitable that scores will go down. But the board managed to work in this cheerful note: "However, a decline in mean scores does not necessarily mean a decline in performance. There are more high-performing students among the class of 2011 than ever before."

Here is some more information about the people who took the SAT in 2011:

	44% were minority students.
	36% were first-generation college-goers.
	27% reported that English was not the only language first learned at home.

And for those of you who still get upset when recalling the stress of the SAT experience, the College Board adds this: "The College Board continues to advise that, for individual high-stakes decisions such as admission, SAT scores should always be used together with high school grades and other factors."

Amen.

[For the record, Sept. 14, 2:22 p.m.: An earlier version of this post incorrectly said the average scores in reading and math were down. The College Board says it is mean scores that are down.]

http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=171

Fast Facts

Question:
What are the average scores for students taking the SAT?

Response:
The SAT (formerly known as the Scholastic Assessment Test and the Scholastic Aptitude Test) is not designed as an indicator of student achievement, but rather as an aid for predicting how well students will do in college. Between 1998–99 and 2004–05, the mathematics SAT average score increased by 9 points, but it declined by 4 points between 2004–05 and 2009–10. The critical reading average score in 2009–10 (501) was 4 points lower than in 1998–99.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2011). Digest of Education Statistics, 2010 (NCES 2011-015), Chapter 2.

SAT mean scores of college-bound seniors, by race/ethnicity: Selected years, 1990–91 through 2009–10
Race/ethnicity	1990–91	1996–97	1998–99	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03	2003–04	2004–05	2005–06	2006–07	2007–08	2008–09	2009–10
SAT-Critical reading
All students	499	505	505	505	506	504	507	508	508	503	502	502	501	501
White	518	526	527	528	529	527	529	528	532	527	527	528	528	528
Black	427	434	434	434	433	430	431	430	433	434	433	430	429	429
Mexican American	454	451	453	453	451	446	448	451	453	454	455	454	453	454
Puerto Rican	436	454	455	456	457	455	456	457	460	459	459	456	452	454
Other Hispanic	458	466	463	461	460	458	457	461	463	458	459	455	455	454
Asian/Pacific Islander	485	496	498	499	501	501	508	507	511	510	514	513	516	519
American Indian/Alaska Native	470	475	484	482	481	479	480	483	489	487	487	485	486	485
Other	486	512	511	508	503	502	501	494	495	494	497	496	494	494
SAT-Mathematics
All students	500	511	511	514	514	516	519	518	520	518	515	515	515	516
White	513	526	528	530	531	533	534	531	536	536	534	537	536	536
Black	419	423	422	426	426	427	426	427	431	429	429	426	426	428
Mexican American	459	458	456	460	458	457	457	458	463	465	466	463	463	467
Puerto Rican	439	447	448	451	451	451	453	452	457	456	454	453	450	452
Other Hispanic	462	468	464	467	465	464	464	465	469	463	463	461	461	462
Asian/Pacific Islander	548	560	560	565	566	569	575	577	580	578	578	581	587	591
American Indian/Alaska Native	468	475	481	481	479	483	482	488	493	494	494	491	493	492
Other	492	514	513	515	512	514	513	508	513	513	512	512	514	514

NOTE: Data are for seniors who took the SAT any time during their high school years through March of their senior year. If a student took a test more than once, the most recent score was used. The SAT was formerly known as the Scholastic Assessment Test and the Scholastic Aptitude Test. Possible scores on each part of the SAT range from 200 to 800. The critical reading section was formerly known as the verbal section.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2011). Digest of Education Statistics, 2010 (NCES 2011-015), Table 151.

SAT Scores Down

While the College Board claims SAT math scores went up 2 points in the last decade, reversing an opposite and opposing trend for the past four decades, they also admit that the test changed in three VERY significant ways:

Prior to "Recentering", SAT Scores Were Already Down 75 Points

AVERAGE DAILY TV VIEWING

SAT SCORES

SAT Scores Down 17 Points in Six Years

Large 2011 SAT Score Decline Shows Failure of “No Child Left Behind"

LARGE SAT SCORE DECLINE SHOWS FAILURE OF “NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND” AND STATE HIGH-STAKES TESTING STRATEGY; FAIRTEST ASKS: “HOW MANY WAKE-UP CALLS DO POLICY-MAKERS NEED?”

Why SAT Scores Are Down—And Why it Matters

SAT scores for class of 2011 decline in every aspect

Average SAT exam scores for high school seniors dropped three points in reading, one point in math and two points in writing, the College Board reports. Reading scores are the lowest on record.

SAT reading and math scores down in 2011, says College Board