Washington's SAT Scores

An update on yesterday's post about the slight decline in SAT scores nationally (down one point in reading to 502; three in writing to 494 and to 515 in math).

According to a story in today's Seattle P-I, Washington state students who took the college entrance exam only saw their collective scores drop two points by comparison. In our state, the average scores were 526 in reading, 510 in writing and 531 in math. A detailed, state-by-state report is also available online, which allows a more in-depth look at the data for the 34,638 students who sat for the SAT. For example:

• In math, boys still outscore the girls, this time by 34 points (provided my math is correct).
• There were 31 freshmen who took the test and 493 seniors
• 67 percent of our state's testers were white; 13 percent were Asian, Asian American or Pacific Islander. Four percent were Black or African American. Three percent identified themselves as Mexican or Mexican American and 2 percent said they were Hispanic, Latino or Latin American.
• 44 percent took the PSAT as a junior and 29 percent never took the PSAT at all.
• The mean grade point average for the test-takers: 3.41.

There's a great breakdown of coursework by gender and SAT grade that's worth a closer look. Fifty-eight percent of test-takers reported taking four years of mathematics (44 percent of boys and 58 percent of girls). There's data for English, natural sciences, social sciences and history, too.