State SAT Scores

Highest In 30 Years

By Laura Walsh

Associated Press

HARTFORD –Connecticut’s high school seniors scored above the national average on their SAT college entrance exams, despite having the second highest participation rate in the nation.

Eighty-five percent of the high school class of 2004 took the test in Connecticut, and averaged a combined score of 1030, up four points from 2003 and 11 points from 1999. The state’s score is also four points above the national average, according to results released Tuesday by the state Department of Education.

Connecticut students averaged 515 on both the verbal and math components of the college entrance examinations. Each section has a maximum score of 800 points, for a total possible score of 1600.

Nationally, the average cumulative score on the country’s most widely taken college entrance exam was 1026, the same as for the class of 2003. Scores on the verbal section rose one point to 508 while math scores fell one point to 518. The stagnant scores nationally come after a six-point jump last year from 2002 that produced a 36-year high.

The Connecticut scores showed a continued gap between minority and white students. Black students had an average score of 838, an all-time high, but 217 points lower than the average score of white students, education officials said.