Educação pública americana em declínio

SAT Reading, Writing Test Scores Drop to Lowest Levels

By Janet Lorin

Average reading and writing SAT scores for high school students declined to their lowest levels while math results stalled in the exam used for admission at most U.S. colleges.

For the class of 2012, the average critical reading score fell 1 point to 496 from a year earlier, the lowest since data became available in 1972, according to a report released today by the New York-based College Board, which administers the test. The average score for writing dropped 1 point to 488, the lowest since writing was added to the exam in 2006. Math results were unchanged at 514. Scores can range from 200 to 800.

As states tout results on their own reading and math exams, SAT results have stagnated, undercutting claims of improvement in K-12 education under No Child Left Behind, the country’s main public schools law.

“NCLB and state high-stakes testing programs have dramatically undercut college readiness,” said Bob Schaeffer, a spokesman for FairTest, a Boston-based nonprofit group critical of standardized testing. “Test-driven K-12 school policies have been a colossal failure.”
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