(2006-06-01) Johnson SAT Scores

Steven Johnson notes that SAT scores (High School) have improved over the past decade. Math scores have never been higher — they’re 14 points above where they were 10 years ago. Verbal this past year is four points above where it was a decade ago. And yet, during that time period, there has been a 38% increase in the number of people taking the test — a trend which has the effect of dragging down the average, since the new test takers tend to come from the bottom of the class. (Their equivalents in 1996 didn’t bother taking the test because they didn’t plan on going to college.) There’s also a huge increase in minority test-takers, who tend — again, on average — to have lower scores than the rest of the population.