CALIFORNIA SAT PARTICIPATION UP, SCORES DOWN – paralleling national trends and results

 

SAT scores fall slightly for state's class of 2011 from the Glendale News Press/By The Los Angeles Times/L.A. NOW | http://bit.ly/qJ69s6		More High School Students Taking SAT Test The number of California high school seniors in this year's class who took the SAT in their high school careers rose to 53 percent this year, according to the College Board. By Meredith Skrzypczak | Palos Verdes patch | http://bit.ly/qGtKqu
September 14, 2011 | 11:45 a.m.- Average SAT scores for California’s high school class of 2011 dropped slightly compared with last year, but more college-bound seniors than ever took the exam, according to a report released Wednesday. California test takers averaged 1,513 points out of a possible 2,400, scoring 499 in critical reading, 515 in mathematics and 499 in writing. The average score for critical reading was down two points and math and writing down one point from 2010. Still, the state’s scores topped the national average of 1,500, which was down nine points from the year before. The numbers were released by the nonprofit College Board, which administers the SAT and Advanced Placement programs. The increasing representation of students from varied academic backgrounds may factor into the poorer scores, according to the report, which noted that there were also more high-performing students in the class of 2011 than ever before.		14 Sept, 2011 – 3:35pm - More than half of California high school seniors in this year's class, or 53 percent, took the SAT test at some point during their high school careers with minority students accounting for 65 percent of students who took the test. The results for all seniors, released by the College Board on Wednesday, represent a 4 percent increase over 2010 and a 13 percent increase since 2007. Of the 222,658 students who took the test, 184,890 were public school SAT takers, representing 48 percent of the state’s public high school graduates, according to the results. For minority students, the class of 2011 was the most diverse class in state history, according to a press release from the California Department of Education. Minority students composed 64 percent of test-takers in 2010 and 58 percent in 2007. Among California public school students in 2011 compared to last year, writing scores decreased 5 points to 494; critical reading scores dropped 6 points to 494, and math scores dropped 6 points to 513. "I am pleased that more than half of California seniors took the SAT in 2010 and that the participation of minority students set a new record for our state,” State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson said in the release Wednesday. “College has increasingly become the price of admission to the job market, so it is encouraging that more students than ever see college in their futures.” Among the California SAT takers who answered optional questions about their college plans, 27 percent of students indicated plans to attain a bachelor’s degree, 54 percent indicated plans to attain a more advanced (master’s or doctoral) degree, and 76 percent indicated that they planned to apply for financial aid. Nearly 81 percent of high school seniors from major high schools in the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District took the SAT in the 2009-10 year, according to California Department of Education records. Average scores were 620 for math, 571 for critical reading and 593 for writing. The latest information on how PVPUSD students performed on the SAT will not be available until later this year.

smf:

• Students must take the CAHSEE; they need to pass it to graduate from High School – but it measures what should should have been learned in the eighth grade.
• Students must take the STAR Test, it has no weight in graduation or college admissions. Its results are meaningless to college bound students.
• Students elect to take the SAT, many colleges depend on it in college admissions.

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