WASHINGTON STATE

Washington State House Democrats

HOUSE DEMOCRATS

More students, and more students of color, take SAT exam

The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) reports that high-school 12th-graders here in our very own Evergreen State, especially students of color, did us all proud in the most-recent Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT).

Says a recent OSPI press release — “Washington Sees Rise in SAT Participation: More students with more diversity are choosing to take the college-entrance exam”: “Washington’s 12th-graders earned a combined average score of 1,526 on the 2013 SAT. This is the nation’s fourth highest score among states with at least 50 percent of eligible students taking the test. The national average composite score is 1474.”

SAT testsThe number of students here in Washington who took the SAT in 2012 went up by 4.6 percent over the number of students who took that storied test in 2011, compared with the national increase of just 0.8 percent.

“Washington’s public-school SAT participation rate of 55 percent was higher than all but two Western states (Texas at 56 percent and Idaho at 100 percent),” continues the recent OSPI press release.

Here’s a table that shows the dramatic increase in Washington SAT participation rates for students of color:

Participation rate changes:
Washington/Nation
American Indian +6.9%/+4.6%
Asian +2.7%/+1.7%
Black +8.8%/-1.9%
Hispanic +14.6%/+6.5%
White +2.3%/-1.1%

Go to this website here for the actual, school-by-school SAT results for Washington’s public high schools.