About 86 percent of Connecticut’s high school graduating class of 2014 took the SAT exam. That’s according to a new report from the College Board, which created and administers the test.
That SAT participation rate is a slight increase over the class of 2013. Participation rates grew more sharply for black and Hispanic students in the state.
Connecticut’s average scores in writing and math dipped slightly from 2013, while reading scores reading scores stayed flat.
Students in Connecticut outperformed national scores in reading and writing while missing the national average in math by one point.
Black and Hispanic students continue to score lower than white students in the state. But black students did narrow that gap last year, improving their scores in every content area.
State Representative Andrew Fleischmann is on the legislature’s education committee. He says the SAT should be de-emphasized when it comes to students’ admission to college.
“Focusing in on their work and their level of attainment in their high school career, which is shown by their grades, is the best thing to do,” Fleischmann said.
The College Board also says nearly 20 percent of Connecticut 11th- and 12th-graders scored high enough on an Advanced Placement Exam to earn college credit, up from 10.5 percent in 2004.
