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Mistatements on Washington's SAT Scores

Thu, 09/30/2010 - 12:22pm — garybeck

Our school system is failing by every objective measure, but in a recent forum my opponent countered my argument by claiming that our state has the highest SAT scores in the nation and more of our students take the SATs than any other state (see video). Both claims are clearly false. 

Washington has the 25th highest SAT scores in the nation and only 53% (in 2009) of our students take the test. Things may have changed a little in 2010, but after manually analyzing the scores (see table following the one below), it doesn't look like it. 

As you can see, the higher the percentage of students taking the test, the lower the average score. The highest score is Iowa, where only 3% take the test. The lowest state is Maine, where 90% take the test. Washington, with about 50% taking the test, is right in the middle, as you would expect. That is why the College Board tells everyone not to try to compare states based upon this data (scroll down beneath states to see warning). Relative results have more to do with the demographics of who and how many take the test in different states than the quality of the education system. The fewer who take the test, the more select the group and the higher the score. The more who take it, the less select the group and the lower the score. We see the same affect in the ACT table, where Washington places higher because much fewer of our students take the test.

 It is hard to know how my opponent, who claims that her main focus is children, could not know this and make such clearly untrue claims. 

2009 Results Published by Best and Worst States from Data Provided by College Boards (link to source).  

             
    Rate Reading Math Writing Total
1 Iowa 3% 610 615 588 1813
2 Wisconsin 5% 594 608 582 1784
3 Minnesota 7% 595 609 578 1782
4 Missouri 5% 595 600 584 1779
5 Illinois 6% 588 604 583 1775
6 Michigan 5% 584 603 575 1762
7 South Dakota 3% 589 600 569 1758
8 Nebraska 4% 587 594 572 1753
9 North Dakota 3% 590 593 566 1749
10 Kansas 7% 581 589 564 1734
11 Kentucky 7% 573 573 561 1707
12 Oklahoma 5% 575 571 557 1703
13 Tennessee 10% 571 565 565 1701
14 Arkansas 5% 572 572 556 1700
15 Colorado 20% 568 575 555 1698
16 Wyoming 5% 567 568 550 1685
17 Mississippi 4% 567 554 559 1680
18 Louisiana 7% 563 558 555 1676
19 Alabama 7% 557 552 549 1658
20 Utah 6% 559 558 540 1657
21 New Mexico 11% 553 546 534 1633
22 Ohio 22% 537 546 523 1606
23 Montana 22% 541 542 519 1602
24 Idaho 18% 541 540 520 1601
25 Washington 53% 524 531 507 1563
26 New Hampshire 75% 523 523 510 1557
27 Massachusetts 84% 514 526 510 1551
28 Oregon 52% 523 525 499 1548
29 Vermont 64% 518 518 506 1543
30 Connecticut 83% 509 513 512 1535
31 Arizona 26% 516 521 497 1534
32 Alaska 46% 520 516 492 1528
33 Virginia 68% 511 512 498 1522
34 California 49% 500 513 498 1511
35 West Virginia 18% 511 501 499 1511
36 New Jersey 76% 496 513 496 1506
37 Maryland 69% 500 502 495 1498
38 Rhode Island 66% 498 496 494 1489
39 North Carolina 63% 495 511 480 1487
40 Nevada 42% 501 505 479 1485
41 Indiana 63% 496 507 480 1484
42 Delaware 71% 495 498 484 1478
43 Pennsylvania 71% 493 501 483 1478
44 Florida 59% 497 498 480 1476
45 Texas 51% 486 506 475 1468
46 New York 85% 485 502 478 1466
47 Georgia 71% 490 491 479 1461
48 South Carolina 67% 486 496 470 1453
49 Hawaii 58% 479 502 469 1451
50 Maine 90% 468 467 455 1391
51 DC 79% 466 451 461 1379
  All Students 46% 501 515 493 1509
Source: College Board and various news services Rate: Student Population Rate as reported by www.collegeboard.com

Below is a table of 2010 results that I compiled myself (so it certainly has mistakes), but position of Washington is the same.

Order
Cummulative Reading Math Writing
1 Iowa 599 603 613 582
2 Minnesota 594 594 607 580
3 Wisconsin 593 595 604 579
4 Missouri 589 593 595 580
5 Michigan 589 585 605 576
6 South Dakota 589 592 603 571
7 Illinois 587 585 600 577
8 Kansas 584 590 595 567
9 Nebraska 582 585 593 568
10 North Dakota 578 580 594 559
11 Kentucky 571 575 575 563
12 Tennessee 571 576 571 565
13 Colorado 565 568 572 555
14 Arkansas 561 566 566 552
15 Oklahoma 561 569 568 547
16 Wyoming 561 570 567 546
17 Utah 558 568 559 547
18 Mississippi 555 566 548 552
19 Louisiana 551 555 550 547
20 Alabama 550 556 550 544
21 New Mexico 545 553 549 534
22 Ohio 536 538 548 522
23 Idaho 534 543 541 517
24 Montana 531 538 538 517
25 Washington 521 524 532 508
26 New Hampshire 518 520 524 510
27 Massachusetts 516 512 526 509
28 Oregon 515 523 524 499
29 Vermont 515 519 521 506
30 Arizona 515 519 525 500
31 Connecticut 512 509 514 513
32 Alaska 508 518 515 491
33 West Virginia 507 515 507 500
34 Virginia 507 512 512 497
35 California 506 501 518 500
36 New Jersey 502 495 514 497
37 Maryland 501 501 506 496
38 North Carolina 495 497 511 477
39 Pennsylvania 494 492 501 490
40 Rhode Island 492 494 495 488
41 Indiana 492 494 505 477
42 Florida 491 496 498 479
43 Texas 491 494 505 473
44 Nevada 490 496 501 473
45 Delaware 490 493 495 481
46 Georgia 488 498 490 475
47 New York 487 484 499 478
48 Hawaii 486 483 505 470
49 South Carolina 482 484 495 468
50 District of Columbia 468 474 464 466
51 Maine

Finally, thinking my opponent simply mentioned the wrong test and meant ACT tests instead of SAT, I checked those results as well. The results here were much better. Washington rises to number 9 on the list. However, we must remember that only a small percentage of schools here use this test.The self-selected group may well include few public school children, which would explain the results.

Rank State Average Composite Score Average English Score Average Math Score Average Reading Score Average Science Score
1 Massachusetts 24 24 24.3 24.2 23.1
2 Connecticut 23.7 23.8 23.5 23.9 22.9
3 New Hampshire 23.7 23.6 23.5 24.1 22.9
4 New York 23.3 22.7 23.6 23.3 23.1
5 Maine 23.2 23.2 23 23.6 22.5
6 New Jersey 23.2 23.1 23.6 23.2 22.4
7 Vermont 23.2 22.8 22.8 23.7 22.8
8 Delaware 23 22.8 22.7 23.4 22.5
9 Washington 23 22.6 23.1 23.5 22.5
10 Minnesota 22.9 22.3 22.9 23.2 22.8
11 Rhode Island 22.8 22.8 22.4 23.3 22
12 Indiana 22.3 21.7 22.4 22.6 21.9
13 Maryland 22.3 22 22.3 22.4 21.8
14 Virginia 22.3 22 22.1 22.5 21.9
15 California 22.2 21.7 22.9 22.3 21.5
16 Iowa 22.2 21.8 21.8 22.6 22.3
17 Nebraska 22.1 21.8 21.6 22.4 22
18 Wisconsin 22.1 21.5 22 22.3 22.2
19 Kansas 22 21.4 21.7 22.3 21.9
20 Montana 22 21.3 21.7 22.7 21.9
21 North Carolina 21.9 21.1 22.3 22.2 21.6
22 Pennsylvania 21.9 21.3 22.1 22.1 21.4
23 Idaho 21.8 21.2 21.4 22.4 21.6
24 Ohio 21.8 21.2 21.5 22.1 21.8
25 South Dakota 21.8 21.1 21.6 22 21.9
26 Utah 21.8 21.4 21.1 22.5 21.7
27 Hawaii 21.6 20.9 22.2 21.5 21.2
28 Missouri 21.6 21.5 21 22 21.6
29 Nevada 21.5 20.8 21.5 22 21.3
30 North Dakota 21.5 20.7 21.4 21.7 21.6
31 Oregon 21.5 20.5 21.5 22 21.3
32 Alaska 21.1 20.3 21.2 21.7 20.9
33 National 21 20.5 21 21.3 20.9
34 Texas 20.8 19.7 21.4 20.8 20.9
35 Georgia 20.7 20.1 20.7 20.9 20.5
36 Illinois 20.7 20.3 20.7 20.8 20.5
37 Oklahoma 20.7 20.4 19.9 21.2 20.6
38 West Virginia 20.7 20.7 19.6 21.3 20.6
39 Colorado 20.6 19.9 20.4 21.1 20.7
40 Alabama 20.3 20.4 19.5 20.7 20.2
41 Arkansas 20.3 20.1 19.9 20.6 20.2
42 Louisiana 20.1 20.1 19.6 20.2 20.2
43 New Mexico 20.1 19.3 19.7 20.5 20.2
44 Arizona 20 18.9 20.4 20.2 19.9
45 South Carolina 20 19.2 20.1 20 20
46 Wyoming 20 19 19.8 20.4 20.1
47 District of Columbia 19.8 19.5 19.9 20.2 19.2
48 Michigan 19.7 18.9 19.7 19.7 19.9
49 Tennessee 19.6 19.4 19 19.9 19.6
50 Florida 19.5 18.6 19.7 20.1 19.1
51 Kentucky 19.4 18.9 19.1 19.7 19.5
52 Mississippi 18.8 18.6 18.3 18.8 18.8