News & Notes: College Board: SAT scores lowest in decades

Only 43 percent of seniors met the SAT College and Career Readiness Benchmark, a combined score of 1550 in the three SAT sections. The benchmark score is designed to indicate a sufficient level of preparedness for academic success. Students who reach it are estimated to have a 65 percent chance of achieving at least a B-minus average in their freshman year of college. In addition, average SAT reading scores dropped three points since last year, to 497, the lowest level in almost four decades.

According to the College Board, the lower levels of achievement this year can be attributed to the increased number of test takers. Almost 1.65 million seniors in the Class of 2011 took the SAT, which is traditionally more accessible to higher-income students.

This class was also the most diverse in the SAT’s history, the College Board reported, with 44 percent of test-takers minority students, 37 percent prospective first-generation college attendees and 27 percent learning a first language at home in addition to English.

However, according to several outlets, including The Atlantic, analysis of the data shows that the achievement gap is growing larger than ever, with scores of Asian and white students increasing and scores of most minority students decreasing significantly.