National SAT scores hold steady

The Associated Press Students taking the test had an average math score of 512, up a point from last year and the highest in 27 years. The average score on the reading, sentence completion and words section of the test was 505. That's the same as last year and just 6 points above record-low verbal scores in 1991 and 1994. "We can point to increased math and science study as a reason for the current high in average math score, but the rock-steady verbal scores are more difficult to explain," said Donald Stewart, president of the nonprofit College Board that administers the Scholastic Assessment Test, or SAT. One factor may be the decline in students' familiarity with English, Stewart said. This year, 8 percent of the 1.2 million test-takers do not report English as their first language -- up from 5 percent a decade ago. Seppy Basili, director of pre-college programs for Kaplan Educational Centers, a New York-based test coaching company, said the flat national verbal scores could be considered a positive sign in light of the fact that more students taking the test speak English as a second language. Basili, however, disagrees that math scores are better because more students take higher levels of math and science. SAT questions involve arithmetic, geometry and algebra, not harder subjects like precalculus or trigonometry, he said. Instead, math scores have edged up steadily since 1994 because that's when students were allowed to use calculators during the test, he said. This is the third year of scoring based on a new scale intended to raise the average score back to 500 and make the results more statistically sound. For comparison purposes, scores from previous years also were converted to the new scale, although those for 1967 to 1971 were based on estimates. Scores had fallen below 500 in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The math score was 513 in 1971, and scores were higher before that. In the late 1960s, verbal scores were 540 and higher. Despite steady verbal and slightly improved math scores this year, students in the suburbs outperform those from rural and urban areas. SAT verbal scores are 13 and 9 points below the national average for students in urban and rural areas, respectively, while those for suburban students are 17 points above. Similar score differences exist for SAT math. "This growing disparity is particularly troublesome because 40 to 50 percent of African-American and Latino students who take the SAT live in large cities," Stewart said.