Get a breakdown of the average SAT stats from the class of 2020. https://insights.collegeconfidential.com/average-sat-score
I suspect that the ongoing growth of the mentioned in-school required testing contributes to the decline. Students who, in the past, likely wouldn’t have taken the test due to not planning on going to college, now have to take it. They probably don’t care about the scores and have generally lower scores. I don’t see an easy way to adjust for this factor and do a like-for-like score comparison.
@RichInPitt Also a lot of students score lower on the SAT but score a ton higher on the ACT due to the easier grading scheme (averages vs. sum.)
The scores are on completely different scales and have a percentile-based concordance, so the net number of students performing better, on a percentile basis, on either test has to be equivalent.
Not sure what that has to do with a falling SAT average though.