The College Board released the average SAT scores for the class of 2009 today and the results were pretty uninteresting. The average critical reading score declined from 502 to 501, the math average held steady at 515, and the writing average score dipped from 494 to 493.
What’s more interesting is how various publications have chosen to spin the story. The Associated Press for example, has the accurate though somewhat misleading headline “SAT scores dip for high school class of 2009.” Education Week, meanwhile, goes with the headline “College Board Reports Stagnant SAT Scores.”
But by far the most amusing set of headlines comes from the New York Times where Sam Dillon both writes “SAT Scores Steady for Class of ’09” and “SAT Scores Show Slight Decline in Reading and Writing.“* Both are basically accurate, but it seems like the paper might have wanted to at least be consistent in the message it wanted to convey to its readers.
*Given the Times’ penchant for revising headlines and stories without notice, I’m guessing the headlines will be very different shortly.
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03/19/10 | Ben Miller is quoted on college graduation rates and the NCAA Tournament in the Detroit Free Press.
03/19/10 | Linda Perlstein links to Education Sector's "College- and Career-Ready" event.
03/17/10 | Ben Miller's column on graduation rates and NCAA Tournament eligibility is mentioned on The Wall Street Journal's The Daily Fix.
03/17/10 | Kevin Carey's critique of Diane Ravitch's latest book is quoted in Doublethink's Conventional Folly blog.
03/15/10 | Ben Miller pens an op-ed for US News & World Report on using graduation rates to determine NCAA Tournament eligibility.