Abolish the Department of Education?

[Beavah]

Nationally, SAT reading scores have seen a gradual increase from 492 in 1980 to 516 last year, and that was after 30 seconds' research.

 

LOL. Yah, well, I reckon yeh should have done more than 30 seconds worth of research.

 

 

If yeh had, you would have discovered that in 1995, the SAT folks re-centered the test scores to 500, because the mean had been drifting lower and lower. So at that point, they artificially raised the average score on the reading section by about 80 points, which means that really over the period you describe there was a drop of about 56 points. That's about half a standard deviation, or the equivalent of half a year of schooling.

 

See http://professionals.collegeboard.com/data-reports-research/sat/equivalence-tables

 

Beavah

 

[perdidochas]

Jrush,

 

SAT Scores were renormed in 1996 to reset their mean to 500. You can't use them as a valid comparison over time. (SAT isn't a good choice for other reasons as well).

 

When you look at the NAEP (which hasn't been renormed), it's results are fairly static....

 

http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/pubs/main2008/2009479.asp

 

Roughly speaking, in the mid-range of scores, about 70 points were added to reading, and 30 to math In other words, the scores (when adjusted) show a decrease in ability.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAT

 

I note that Beavah basically said the same thing.