The average score on the SAT, one of the two most popular college entrance exams among high school students, went down a bit across Maryland, the Baltimore Sun reports. However, part of the decrease in the average can be attributed to the fact that more students in the state took the test this year, compared to last year.
- 48,106 class of 2013 students took the SAT
- 49,665 class of 2014 students took it, a 3.2% increase
Among students in Maryland public schools, the increase was a little greater: 41,620 public school students in the class of 2014 took the test, compared to 39,799 in the class of 2013, representing a 4.6 percent increase in one year.
According to the Sun’s Liz Bowie, the increase can be partially explained by a change in policy in at least two of the state’s largest school systems, Baltimore and Prince George’s counties. In these districts, the schools picked up the cost for the test if students couldn’t afford to pay it themselves.
The percentage of public school students who took the test using a fee waiver also went up, from 16.3 percent in 2013 to 17.3 percent in 2014.
“It is a push to afford that opportunity to all students. Many students find the additional cost to be a burden,” the Sun quoted Russell Brown, chief accountability officer for Baltimore County Public Schools, as saying. “It communicates to the students an expectation of college and career readiness.”
The New York-based College Board released SAT results for all 50 states on Oct 7, and those results can be found on pages 2 through 4 of the state-by-state reports, available here.
In Illinois, for instance, where the other college entrance test, the ACT, is required of all students, the number of SAT test takers went down by about 6.2 percent in 2014, compared to 2103. The ACT is becoming more popular in Maryland as well, but it still hasn’t caught up in the state to the SAT.
- In Maryland, 78.5% of the class of 2014 took the SAT, 41.2% met the College and Career Readiness benchmark
- In Illinois, 4.6% of the class of 2014 took the SAT, 80.2% met the College and Career Readiness benchmark
That is, in Illinois, where the alternative test is required, fewer students take the SAT than in Maryland, but those who take it meet the organization’s College and Career Readiness benchmark more often.
Students who met the benchmark were more likely to have completed a full high school core curriculum—four or more years of English and three or more years of math, natural science, and social studies—than test-takers who didn’t meet the benchmark. Across the country, only one in four students who met the benchmark didn’t complete a core curriculum in high school, the same average as in Maryland. In Illinois, on the other hand, only one in eight test-takers who met the benchmark hadn’t completed a full core curriculum in high school.
The percentage of African-American test-takers who met the benchmark is a particularly troubling number to consider: 15.2 percent of African-American test-takers in Maryland met the benchmark, while 53 percent in Illinois met it. We’re comparing apples to oranges here, because African-American college-bound students in Illinois are much less likely to take the SAT than those in Maryland, but it shows that as the participation in the SAT increases, the percentage of students meeting the benchmark tends to decrease.
Over all, the average scores on the three SAT subtests remained flat this year, compared to scores achieved by the class of 2013. Results for the PSAT/NMSQT and AP tests were also released in the state-by-state reports.
How important is a student’s SAT or ACT score? Use evidence to defend your answer. See Common Core English language arts literacy standard WHST.11-12.1.B for more information.
