kitchen table math, the sequel: truth in advertising

Friday, December 18, 2009

truth in advertising

My copy of the district newsletter arrived the other day.

On the back:
SAT scores on the Rise
Over the last three years, our students' SAT scores have been rising in all categories.

Do you wonder what happens when you back that up from 3 years to 5?

(properly formatted version)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It was a differet test in 2005. The test is now 4 hours. In 2006 students had a choice and few wanted to take the new test. Colleges had a hard time making heads or tails of the scores in 2007. Since then many more students started taking ACTs. Add to that until this year you did not have to report all of your ACT scores. SAT changed that this year so the numbers might change again. Difficult to do a five year comparison.

Anonymous said...

This makes me thirsty for the data that goes back to the beginning.

Examples like this make me fear that we've created an entire generation, or maybe two, that are easily manipulated by data. Low math skills have consequences far beyond the individual.

Crimson Wife said...

There was a major overhaul of the SAT a few years back. The first year after that happened one would expect to see a drop since it's harder to prep for a new test. Eventually Kaplan & its competitors would figure out how to effectively prep their clients for the new test.