New York City’s high-school seniors made slight but significant gains on their SAT exams this year — scoring higher in all three sections than they have in years.
On an 800-point scale, the average score of 463 in math was the best students here have scored since 2006, when they hit 467. Additionally, the average student scores of 433 in writing and 437 in reading were the best since 2010.
Overall, city public-school students moved up a collective eight points over the three subject areas tested since 2012 — while students nationally dropped by a total of three points and kids in the entire state failed to budge, according to city officials.
“These higher scores are especially remarkable because the number of our seniors taking the test also kept up a trend begun in 2002 — it continued to rise,” Mayor Bloomberg said at Bedford Academy HS in Brooklyn. “A bigger pool should, we think, mean lower scores — but it didn’t.”
Hispanic students made average single-year gains of 14 points compared to last year, while black students saw their results rise by seven points, just shy of the citywide average.
The city’s results covering the school year that ended in June were still significantly below their most recent peak in 2005 — when math scores hit 477 and reading scores 448. Results in writing were also at their highest in the city when that section was first introduced in 2006.
But officials said it’s significant that thousands more students are prepared and confident enough to take the college-entrance exams each year.
“College and career-readiness — that’s what this is all about,” said Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott.
“High school is just not enough. And I think that also creates a culture in our school system to reach higher — to move beyond.”
On another measure of college-readiness, more than 19,500 public-school kids passed at least one Advanced Placement exam in 2013 — a one-year increase of 1,200. However, because more city students sat for the exams in 2013, the overall passing rate dipped slightly since last year — from 55.6 percent to 54.8 percent.
Students who score a three or higher on the five-point scale can earn course credits from a number of colleges, saving them time and tuition dollars.
Bloomberg said he expected participation in AP exams to continue to rise through the addition of 100 new AP courses focused on science, technology, engineering and math.
Those so-called STEM courses are set to be introduced into 55 schools — many of them in high-poverty neighborhoods — over the next three years.