State Students Score High on SAT

Wisconsin students again recorded some of the nation's best scores on a college entrance exam.

State students scored 587 on the verbal and 596 on the math portion of the SAT exams in 2004. That compares with national averages of 508 and 518 respectively.

Only 7% of Wisconsin's high school students take the SAT. The large majority of Wisconsin students (68%) instead take the ACT, and have scored first or second in the nation on that test for the last 15 years.

“Wisconsin’s college-bound graduates are again among the national leaders on the SAT, reflecting their excellent preparation, as well as predicting future success in college,” said State Superintendent Elizabeth Burmaster. “This national leadership is also reflected in other college testing programs, and we should be proud of our students' achievements."

Only Iowa and South Dakota students scored higher than Wisconsin students in mean verbal and math scores on this year's SAT, and the state's test results show an increase over last year’s scores. Wisconsin SAT results were up two points from last year in both the verbal and math tests. Nationally, 1.42 million students took the SAT, with verbal scores up one point from the previous year and math scores down one point.

One area of concern, Burmaster said, continues to be the achievement gap, although there are positive signs. Test scores for students of color lagged behind scores for Wisconsin’s white students, but ranged from 39 to 112 points higher than their national peers of color.

“The achievement gap is very apparent,” Burmaster said. “These results indicate we have a long way to go in preparing students who are economically disadvantaged, students whose first language is not English, and children of color for successful postsecondary careers. We must work to provide these students with the same educational opportunities as their college-bound peers, and encourage them to participate in this kind of testing.”

In Wisconsin, 50% of students came from families with incomes of $50,000 or more. Their scores were significantly higher than students from economically disadvantaged families, both in Wisconsin and nationally, Burmaster said.

The complete DPI news release on SAT results (this link opens a pdf file)

Posted September 1, 2004