SAT Scores At Historic Low

The College Board, developers of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), are reporting that average SAT combined scores are at their lowest in a decade. Average combined scores on the math and critical reading sections for the test-takers in the high school class that graduated in 2007 (all 1.5 million of them) declined for the second year in a row. This year's scores fell four points from those of the previous year. Scores dropped seven points last year.

Average scores on the math section fell three points, to 515, and reading scores fell one point, to 502, out of a possible 800 points. A record 1.5 million students took the exam.

College Board officials said this year’s decline stemmed from the greater proportion of low-income and minority students who took the SAT (39% of test-takers were minority students). According to the College Board, white students score higher on the SAT than black and hispanic students do.

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