Education, Test Scores | featured news

Average reading and writing SAT scores for high school students declined to their lowest levels while math results stalled in the exam used for admission at most U.S. colleges. For the class of 2012, the average critical reading score fell 1 point to 496 from a year earlier, the lowest since data became available in 1972, according to a report released today by the New York-based College Board, which administers the test. The average score for writing dropped 1 point to 488, the lowest since writing was added to the exam in 2006. Math results were unchanged at 514. Scores can range from 200 to 800.

Average scores on the ACT exam held steady for the high school class of 2012 but the results show modest progress in the number of students who appear ready for college-level work in math and science.

An investigation by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution shows that hundreds of school systems nationwide exhibit suspicious test scores pointing to the possibility of cheating.

The nation's elementary-school children notched the highest scores ever recorded on national math exams this year, continuing a 20-year trend of improvement, according to test data released Tuesday.

Atlanta's schools will flag suspicious test scores and achieve a culture of integrity in the wake of a cheating scandal that could lead to criminal charges, officials said Thursday.

Offering big bonuses to teachers failed to raise students’ test scores in a three-year study released yesterday that calls into question the Obama administration’s push for merit pay to improve education.

Five Los Angeles-area schools improved so much on state standardized tests that they will no longer be exposed to possible takeover by outside groups, officials announced Monday.