Our State Seniors Rocked The SAT

Give them two #2 pencils, a standard non-graphing calculator, and a couple hours: Washington seniors will do better on average in the critical reading and math sections of the SAT than seniors in every other state (at least, states in which more than half of the eligible students took the exam). What a crop of young 'uns we have to be proud of!

Thanks to the Wash. State OSPI, we have exhaustive breakdowns of 2008's test results. Scores in each of the three sections range from 200 (sign your name and you get 200 points, we were told) to 800 (remember that one kid in your class who scored a perfect 800 in all the sections?). This year, Washington's average reading score was 522; the nation's average was 497. In math, state seniors scored 531; the nation scored 510. And in writing, Washington scored 505, while the nation scored 488.

Check here for more analysis than you could possibly be interested in. No offense, College Board.

This test seemed so all-fired important at one point in our life. SATs: outdated? Insensitive to the strong creative potential of our students' delicate, possibly-bad-at-testing souls? A great idea? Regardless, way to go, Washington state seniors! You rocked that test.