City and state scores on SATs spiraled downward for the fourth straight year, according to new data.
Since hitting a peak in 2005, the city’s average score on each 800-point section of the SAT has dropped by 13 points in reading, to 435, and by 18 points in math, to 459.
Scores on the writing section, which was introduced in 2006, have dropped by six points, to 432.
The state and country — whose averages in each section of the most widely accepted college-entrance exam continued to exceed the city’s by as much as 66 points — have also seen decreases since 2005, although not as hefty as the city’s.
City Department of Education officials said the dramatic drop was fueled by the substantial increase in low-performing students taking the test — particularly black and Hispanic students who may not have considered college in the past.
Officials credited that increase in part to the city’s 2-year-old initiative of letting all high-school sophomores and juniors take the practice SAT, known as the PSAT, for free and on a school day.
The percentage of minority students among SAT test-takers climbed from 42 percent in 2005 to 54 percent in 2009.
“It’s especially encouraging that so many more of our black and Hispanic students took the SAT this year, since far too few of these students have historically put themselves on track for college,” said department spokesman Andrew Jacob. “Now we need to focus on raising SAT scores across the board.”
But the same data hailed as a positive trend also highlighted an increase in the achievement gap between whites and their black and Hispanic peers since 2005.
That gap has stretched by about 20 points in both math and reading — with whites now scoring an average 108 points higher in math and nearly 100 points higher in reading than minorities.
“What their SAT scores show is that they’re not adequately prepared for college,” said Jason Brooks, research director for the Foundation for Education Reform and Accountability in Albany.
New York state had the second-highest participation rate in the country on the SAT — trailing only Maine, which pays for all students to take it. This year, 85 percent of New York high-school seniors — nearly 160,000 kids — took the SAT.
Education officials also announced an increase in the number of high-school kids who passed the college credit-granting Advanced Placement exams this year.
The number of exam-takers passing went up statewide by 7.4 percent and in the city by 6.5 percent.