<p>Why are the national averages of test scores so low?</p>
<p>Because half the scores are below average! ;)</p>
<p>The averages are not low - they are average . . . by definition. Remember, it is only college bound students. Contemplate what the universe of scores might look like if all the remaining teenagers took the tests.</p>
<p>I’ve taught high school over 3 decades and what has caused the shift in scores is that there are MANY more students taking the ACT. When you have one student in the class getting a 34 and then a student that has no business taking the ACT (bottom 20%) scoring a 12, and the averages then go DOWN!</p>
<p>There is also not an age requirement for taking the test. I know of 6th and 7th graders that are in Talented and Gifted taking the test to “see how smart they are”. </p>
<p>It is unfortunate that our educational system is judged by one variable that is skewed.</p>
<p>When comparing International students it is all about WHO is taking the test! When comparing selected groups you msut look at what % of that group takes the test. My guess would be that we have by far the highest % of our students taking the test. In other countries the % of test takers is low, thus increasing the odds that the higher % of high achieving students are taking the test. America has developed the philosophy that everyone should go to college. As a result you have students attending that in the past would never have thoguht about it. Other countries don’t have this same philosophy. They track their students at around 12-13 years of age into “college prep”, “vocational” or “basic skills” schools. My guess that their test takers on SAt / ACT , etc. are only a % of the “college prep” students…is it any wonder why they score higher?</p>
<p>This is because, at least in my state, all kids are required to take the ACT. This includes kids who don’t try, poor test takers, students with disabilities, as well as students like you and me who score well and try hard. It’s really not an issue, I mean it makes my score look really good :)</p>
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<p>Not sure if you’re being sarcastic, but yes, I’m well aware of the changing SAT-taker demographic. About 1% of high school graduates took the SAT in 1942 (about 10,000 out of 1.1 million high school graduates) compared to about 50% today (about 1.5 million out of about 3+ million graduates).</p>
<p>But my point was only that median (and average) scores (and therefore percentiles) are not fixed by the scoring methodology and have in fact changed significantly over the course of the modern SAT (1942 and on). Why this is, well, I’m avoiding that debate. Kinda wondering why I’m posting in this thread, actually. :)</p>
<p>davidthefat - re post; #15.
Of course the international average on the SATs is higher than the American. The set of internationals taking the SATs is biased toward higher scores. Internationals taking the SATs are, for the most part, at least somewhat ambitious. They intend to come to American to attend college. IN at least some states here, all high school students take the SATs, including those who don’t go to college.
Bias by income - well, it’s no surprise. Higher income tends to also correlate with greater opportunities, greater parental education, and more access to facilities. Lower income kids tend to deal with more stress, and often work as well. No surprise that they, as a group , have lower scores.</p>