SAT scores down this year

[Peter Campbell <campbellp@mail.montclair.edu>]

New SAT Mystery

The College Board is trying to figure out why many colleges are  
experiencing declines in their average SAT scores this year.

In a memo to admissions officers, the board said that it believed  
that there was a four-to-five point decline, on average, comparing  
scores this year to last, excluding the new writing test. A “small  
additional decline” may be evident when all scores for the year are  
compiled. Based on the size of the decline, colleges should feel that  
it is “valid” to compare students’ scores on this year’s exam to  
those from previous years, the memo said.

But many colleges are reporting larger declines — in the range of  
10-20 points. And several admissions officers said that they were  
concerned because other measures of applicant quality — class rank or  
courses students take in high school — were either holding steady or  
improving. Typically, admissions officers said, such measures and SAT  
average scores would rise and fall together. And the College Board  
had assured colleges repeatedly prior to the changes in the SAT over  
the last year that score comparability would not be hurt.

“It’s certainly curious and unusual,” said Stephen Farmer, director  
of undergraduate admissions at the University of North Carolina at  
Chapel Hill, where the average SAT score is down 12 points this year  
— while all other measures of applicant quality are up. Farmer said  
that officials of the College Board have been “very diligent” in  
working to try to figure out why scores dropped and what it means.

Similar declines have been reported systemwide at the University of  
California, which has not seen declines in measures of quality aside  
from SAT scores.

Privately, some admissions officials were less charitable than Farmer  
is, noting that they were hearing from colleague after colleague  
about larger drops than the College Board was reporting. For the  
College Board, any new concern about the SAT couldn’t come at a worse  
time. The board has been facing criticism, ridicule and at least one  
lawsuit for scoring errors on the October 2005 SAT, and for a series  
of announcements in which the acknowledged extent of the scoring  
errors grew.

On Tuesday, Gaston Caperton, president of the board, was defending  
its procedures at a New York State Senate hearing called over  
concerns about the accuracy of scores. Caperton’s testimony did not  
mention the latest concerns.

In its memo to admissions officers, the College Board said that the  
declines may be caused by “changing test taker patterns, including a  
trend of some students taking the test less frequently.” The board  
said that “we believe that this decrease in repeat test-taking may  
account for some of the average score decline” because re-tests  
commonly increase a score by 30 points on reading and math combined.

Farmer of Chapel Hill said that he didn’t think applicants would be  
hurt because they are competing against one another.

But other admissions officials aren’t sure. Bob Voss, dean of  
admission at La Salle University, in Philadelphia, said he is  
concerned. His institution saw a 10 point drop. In talking to his  
colleagues at other campuses, he said, “I haven’t found anyone who  
thinks it’s true” that the score decline has been as small as the  
College Board has said. Voss said that his applicants this year are  
notably improved in class rank.

One person’s SAT score and class rank may not correlate as expected,  
he said. “But you can look at 5,000 of them and it means something,”  
he said. “I’m seeing scores that are just amazing to me.”

And Voss said that many colleges do make decisions based on SAT  
scores. At his institution, for example, some students who are  
admitted with relatively low SAT scores are encouraged to enroll in  
enrichment programs. “We may have put people into that program who  
didn’t need to be there,” he said.

Several admissions officials and high school guidance counselors said  
that the SAT score situation has been the topic of considerable  
discussion in the last week or so. Chiara Coletti, a spokeswoman for  
the College Board, said via e-mail that “not a significant number of  
colleges” have contacted the board about the issue. She said that  
nine colleges had alerted the board to declines, and that the board  
then decided to send out the memo “proactively” to admissions  
officers, and that not many had since expressed concern.

Coletti said that the College Board did not plan to notify test  
takers at this point of the concerns about the scoring decline, in  
keeping with the board’s approach of not sharing incomplete cohort  
results. Some students might find the information on the College  
Board Web site, she said. It appears there under the headline “206  
SAT Cohort Averages” on the portion of the site for educators.  
Admissions officials said that applicants appeared unaware of the  
issue. “Telling students specifically about average scores to date  
for a part of their cohort wouldn’t seem to serve them,” Coletti said.

— Scott Jaschik

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insidehighered.com/news/2006/05/03/sat.