By STEPHANIE BANCHERO
SAT scores for the high-school graduating class of 2012 fell in two of the test's three sections, with reading dropping to the lowest level in four decades on the college-entrance test, according to data released Monday.
Only 43% of the 1.66 million private- and public-school students who took the college-entrance exam posted scores showing they are prepared to do well in college, according to data released by the College Board, the nonprofit group that administers the SAT. That was unchanged from last year.
Nationwide, 44% of high-school freshmen go on to attend college and 21% earn a bachelor's degree in six years, the College Board said.
The SAT tests students in reading, math and writing, with a possible score of 800 on each section. Students needed a score of 1550 out of the total 2400 to indicate college readiness, defined as a 65% chance of maintaining at least a B-minus as a university freshman.
The SAT data mirror scores from the ACT college-entrance exam—which showed about 75% of students failed to meet college-readiness standards—and served to increase the hand-wringing over whether U.S. high-school students are prepared to attend college and compete in a global economy. Colleges generally accept results of either test.
College Board officials and other experts noted that the declining scores could have much to do with the testing pool, which is growing and becoming more diverse. Last year, 45% of students who took the exam were members of a minority group, up from 38% of the 1.56 million who took it in 2008. And 28% of test takers reported that English wasn't exclusively their first language, up from 24% in 2008.
Minority and low-income students are less likely to take a core curriculum—defined as four years of English and three or more of math and the sciences—that would help them prepare to do well on the exam.
James Montoya, a vice president of the College Board, said the results are a "call to action" for students, parents and schools to ensure more teenagers enroll in a core curriculum. "There are many students who have the potential to succeed in college, but they are not being supported by our education system," he said.
The graduating class of 2012 posted an average score of 496 in reading, a one-point drop from 2011 and a 34-point decline since 1972, the first year the College Board began tracking the scores of "college-bound" seniors. The way the test is scored changed in the mid-1990s, but the mean scores in prior years were recalibrated to make them comparable.
Writing dropped to 488 this year from 489 in 2011—the lowest score since that section was introduced in 2006. The average math score was 514, virtually unchanged since 2007, but down by four points since 2006.
Latino and African-American students posted lower average scores than white and Asian students did.
Two years ago, the Houston Independent School District began offering the SAT free during class time. The number of test takers jumped 32% to 6,211 in 2011 from 2010, the most recent data available, according to district officials. The average score dropped 33 points to 1355, the largest decline in four years.
Still, James McSwain, principal of Lamar High School in Houston, said it was vital that all students at least have a shot at taking such tests. "You can take a kid who has never even considered going to college and, once they have this exposure, they might change their mind and say, 'Hey I can do this,' " he said. "If that makes the average score drop, it is worth it."
Write to Stephanie Banchero at stephanie.banchero@wsj.com
A version of this article appeared September 25, 2012, on page A4 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: SAT Scores Fall as More Students Take Exam.
