SAT test results released today show that Michigan high
school students ranked fourth in the nation, even as scores across the country
sunk to the lowest level since the college admission exam was overhauled in
2005.
Michigan students scored 1,788 out of a possible 2,400.
But that is based on an abysmal percentage of students who take the grueling
4-hour test. The College Board reported that participation in Michigan was in
the zero to 10 percent range, with just 3,765 high schoolers taking the exam.
1490, down seven points from last year and below the level that is considered
college-ready. There were declines of at
least two points on all three sections of the test — critical reading, math and
writing.
According to The Washington Post, the steady decline in
SAT scores and generally stagnant results from high schools on federal tests
and other measures reflect a troubling shortcoming of education-reform efforts.
The test results show that gains in reading and math in elementary grades haven’t
led to broad improvement in high schools, experts say. That means several
hundred thousand teenagers, especially those who grew up poor, are leaving
school every year unready for college.
is education reform hitting a wall in high school?” asked Michael J. Petrilli,
president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a think tank. “You see this in
all kinds of evidence. Kids don’t make a whole lot of gains once they’re in
high school. It certainly should raise an alarm.”
Cyndie Schmeiser, chief of assessment for the College
Board, which owns the SAT, said she is concerned because the share of students
prepared for college has stagnated for five years, the Post reported. Only 42 percent
reached a score of at least 1550, the benchmark for college and career
readiness. Worse yet, the share for Hispanic students was 23 percent and for
African American kids it was 16 percent.
