The College Board has released its annual report on the SAT scores of graduating high school seniors in the Class of 2016. The data shows that the average score for Blacks on the reading section of the test was 430. This was significantly below the average score for Whites which stood at 528. The SAT is scored on a scale of 200 to 800 points.
On the mathematics portion of the test, a slightly larger racial gap exists. Blacks had an average score of 425, compared to an average score for Whites of 533.
On the writing section of the test, Blacks had an average score of 415. Whites scored an average of 511.
The average combined score for Blacks of 1270 is 302 points below the average combined score for Whites, which stood at 1572.
The racial scoring gap widened this year, but The College Board cautions that comparisons to past years should not be made. The College Board’s test score data now reflect Department of Education racial and ethnic classifications which include a new category of “two or more races, non-Hispanic.” In the past some members of this group would have been included in the data for “Black or African American.”
