Oregon Public Broadcasting

Oregon had fewer students taking the SAT, but slightly better scores this year.  Rob Manning reports on the results released Tuesday.

Last year, Oregon’s average scores declined in all three SAT categories - reading, writing, and math. 

Now, they've crept back up a little.

Writing scores were flat, but reading and math rose one point each, on the 800-point scale.

The average Oregon scores are above the scores nationally.  But that doesn't hold true for all students in the state.

Average scores for minority students were up to 70 points lower than Oregon students as a whole.

State officials say that there’s a correlation between the rigor of classes students are taking, and their scores on the SAT.

They made a similar point about ACT results, which showed an overall decline. But the ACT and SAT differ in that several large school districts required, and paid for the ACT last school year, but not for the SAT.

That might be why official results show fewer students taking the SAT this year than last.