Small Gains, High Ranking For Mass. Students On SAT

While they showed only small or no gains over 2011, Massachusetts students who took the SAT this year outperformed their counterparts nationally in math and trailed only a few states in critical reading and writing assessments.

The average score for Massachusetts students in math was 523, up from 521 last year, and tops among the 17 states where at least 60 percent of students participated in the SAT.

The average score in critical reading was 506, up a point from last year and the average score of 500 in writing matched last year’s average. Students in Vermont, New Hampshire and Virginia outperformed Massachusetts students in critical reading and Vermont and Connecticut students scored the highest in writing.

Eight-four percent of the members of the class of 2012 in Massachusetts participated in the SAT, up from 75 percent in 2002.

Hispanic and African-American public school students in Massachusetts raised their average scores on critical reading, math and writing. Average scores for Hispanic students this year were 433 in critical reading, 449 in math and 425 in writing. Average scores for African-American students this year were 419 in critical reading, 432 in math and 413 in writing.

The nonprofit College Board released its SAT Report on College & Career Readiness. It showed that only 43 percent of SAT takers nationally in the class of 2012 graduated from high school “with the level of academic preparedness associated with a high likelihood of college success.”