Are SAT scores "worse than meaningless"?

• Position: Testing - State ranking - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

Ranking states according to their SAT averages is "worse than meaningless," warn Greg Marchant and Sharon Paulson, education experts at Ball State University, Muncie, Ind. "The state SAT rankings are worthless in determining the quality of the schools in a state, and the potential for basing perceptions and policies on the rankings is even worse," argues Marchant.

Research by Marchant and Paul son determined that the rankings say more about the nature of the students taking the test than about the states' educational systems. Their study examined the characteristics of individuals taking the SAT and compared the 10 highest-scoring states with the 10 lowest. They found the larger the percentage of students taking the SAT in a state, the lower the average score.

In the 10 states with the highest SAT scores, an average of eight percent of their high school students took the SAT, while 69% of students took the test in the 10 lowest-scoring states. Moreover, the lowest 10 states had twice as many high school juniors taking the test and 14 times as many SAT takers overall.

"The states with the highest SAT scores and lowest percentage of SAT takers tend to be testing mostly their best and brightest." Marchant explains. "There is more diversity in the ability of test takers that come from the lower-scoring states. In the top-scoring states, twice as many test takers come from the top 10% of their class. Test takers from lower-scoring states represent a far...