Indiana SAT scores continue downward trend, latest test results show

(INDIANA CAPITAL CHRONICLE) — Only a quarter of Hoosier high schoolers who took the SAT during the last academic year earned college-ready scores in both reading and math, according to newly-released results. 

More than 80,000 high school students, primarily juniors, took the test in 2023-24. Of those, about 24% of students met the readiness benchmark on both subject portions, according to the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE). That’s a 4.4% decrease compared to last year, continuing a two-year downward trend.

The new test results were released Wednesday and discussed by the State Board of Education (SBOE).

State law requires IDOE to administer a national college entrance exam to high school students before graduation.

Scores on the decline

The SAT includes math, reading and writing sections. The assessment, administered by the College Board, scores students as “At College-Ready,” “Approaching College-Ready,” or “Below College-Ready,” depending on their performance.

A student who scores “Approaching” with one more year remaining in high school is expected to be at “At College-Ready” by graduation.

Students who score at or above the benchmark have a 75% chance of earning at least a C in their first semester of credit-bearing college courses in that subject area, IDOE officials said.

Almost 52% of high school students met the assessment’s reading and writing benchmarks, alone, which is about the same as last year.

Just 25.2% of Indiana students showed college-readiness in math — 5.5% lower than in 2022-23 and 7.7% lower than in 2021-22, according to IDOE. In the most recent school year, 22.1% of students were “Approaching” college-readiness, and 52.7% were below the readiness benchmark.

A new SAT

IDOE officials emphasized that the College Board is seeing a decrease in scores nationally, including in Indiana. 

“When we initially saw our data and heard from schools, there was a bit of concern because of the SAT scores,” said Indiana Secretary of Education Katie Jenner. “But there were some assessment shifts which caused the mean score nationwide to go down, and in Indiana.”

In 2023-2024, College Board changed the test design, which can often impact assessment scores.

The SAT’s switch to an adaptive assessment means questions provided to individual students become more or less difficult, depending on how they perform from one stage of the exam to the next. The new SAT is now shorter, has fewer items and shorter reading passages, takes less time to complete, and permits calculator use throughout, according to the College Board.

Hoosier students who are chronically absent — meaning they missed at least 18 days, or 10% of the school year — scored substantially lower on the SAT. Only 17.5% of those who were chronically absent showed college-readiness on the SAT in 2023-24 compared to 41.1% who earned the benchmark and were not chronically absent. 

The latest Indiana data shows that about 40% of students statewide missed 10 or more school days during the 2022-23 academic year, and nearly one in five were chronically absent.

Jenner said Wednesday the results underscore the urgency behind the state’s ongoing work to rethink and redesign the state’s high school experience.

“We have work to do. We know that we’re going to continue to roll up our sleeves as educators and keep working hard, and also partner with our parents and families,” Jenner said. “It has to be a partnership. We can maximize learning the most — we know this — as educators, plus the parents and families, partnering for the child.”

State board member B.J. Watts additionally said that the SAT college-readiness data is likely skewed, given that it does not consider students who don’t plan to pursue higher education after high school but are required to take the exam anyway. 

“I think it’s important for us to remember …now, every single student is taking this test. There’s probably some students that are not college bound — don’t want to be college bound — that may not take this test as seriously as others,” Watts said. “I don’t want us to lose sight of that  — we’re forcing students to take a test that they have zero interest in … those numbers may be a little skewed by those students that, truly, this test has no value to them.”

Changes coming to high school requirements

While many colleges have opted to make standardized tests optional, most still use PSAT, SAT and ACT scores to make admissions decisions.

Many scholarships and merit organizations additionally use the exams to award students money for college.

Currently, Indiana officials are undertaking a major redesign of the state’s high school graduation requirements, including proposed diploma changes.

Paramount to the new plan, according to state officials, is maximized “flexibility” for students to personalize learning pathways and experiences, including with college courses taken while still in high school, as well as the ability to count internships, apprenticeships, military experience and other work-based learning toward their graduation requirements.

As laid out in the proposal, earning college-readiness marks on the SAT or ACT could count towards requirements in the future “Indiana GPS Diploma” — a more flexible, personalized version of the current Core 40 diploma. 

Nothing proposed has been set in stone yet, however – the rulemaking process to finalize the diploma model is expected to continue for a couple more months. Before the state board takes a final vote – which is anticipated in September — additional rounds of public comment and changes to improve the overall plan are underway. 

By law, board members must give their stamp of approval by December. The requirements would then take effect with the Class of 2029.