Falling SAT math scores don’t add up, official says

Stephen Curran

Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2004 | 11:04 a.m.

A four-point drop in math scores on the most widely used college entrance test has given Clark County School District officials "something to keep an eye on," the woman in charge of the district's testing said Tuesday.

Clark County students' average SAT scores dropped from 502 in the 2002-03 school year to 500 last year on the verbal portion and from 513 to 509 on the math. However, 10 percent more students took the test last year than in the previous year, according to the Princeton, N.J.-based College Board, which prepares the SAT.

For the same period, the national average verbal score rose one point to 508 while the average math score fell one point to 518.

The new data also comes as high schools nationwide are preparing for sweeping changes to the test in 2005, including new content from third-year college preparatory math and a student-written essay. Analogies, long a stumbling block for many students, will be eliminated, according to the College Board.

Although she said the dips were not "terribly significant," the drop in math scores was puzzling, Sue Daellenbach, director of testing for the CCSD, said.

"I wouldn't say it is terribly significant, especially when you look at the number of kids taking the test," she said. "When you increase the percentage of kids taking the test it brings it down a little lower. The nation and our (school) district and Nevada all went down in math. I'm not sure why, but they did."

The nationwide slump in math scores reversed an improving trend in previous years, according to board statistics.

The SAT is the most commonly used test for gauging students' readiness for college-level work.

Pam Hicks, the interim associate vice president for enrollment management at UNLV, said the drop for Clark County students will have little impact on incoming freshmen, except it may mean more will have to enroll in remedial math classes.

She agreed the scores may be lowered by more students opting to take the test.

UNLV requires applicants take either the SAT or the ACT, but uses the scores only for placement into English or math classes, she said.

Changes in curriculum -- coupled with rapid population growth -- are the most likely reason for the rise in students who take the test, Daellenbach said. Teachers now encourage a greater number of students of varying skills to take the SAT, once a test reserved only for those going directly to a four-year university, she said.

The popularity of the Millennium Scholarship may also be at the heart of the change, as the program is widely considered responsible for giving students an added incentive to pursue post-secondary education, Daellenbach said.

"More students are seeing an opportunity to go to college," she said.