NY Boasts Most Diverse Freshman Class To Date

SAT results underscored the importance of academic rigor; New York students who completed a core curriculum and/or pursued more advanced course work tended to achieve greater success on the SAT. 

College Board President Gaston Caperton said, “I congratulate New York students, their parents and educators on their good work. I’m especially encouraged by both the number of minority students in New York who plan to go on to college and by the number of students who will be the first in their families to seek a college education. For the U.S. to maintain its leadership position in an increasingly competitive world economy, we must commit ourselves to preparing all students for the challenges of higher education.” He added, “Similarly, we must work together to ensure that these students are championed by programs that help prepare them to reach their academic goals.”

New York State recently won a Race to the Top grant, which it intends to use to transform failing schools, close the achievement gap and prepare all children for college and career success.

“We know that to succeed in today's competitive global economy, students must continue their education beyond high school,” said State Education Commissioner David Steiner. “I'm very pleased that such a large and diverse group of New York's students has demonstrated an interest in attending college. But we also know that far too many students who begin college require significant remediation when they get there. That's why the Regents have embarked on a bold reform agenda that will give us a demanding, clear curriculum; reliable and rigorous assessments; high standards; and effective teachers in every classroom. In short, it is an agenda that will prepare all students for college and careers.”

A Rigorous Curriculum and College Readiness

New York students completing a core curriculum — four or more years of English, three or more years of mathematics, three or more years of natural science, and three or more years of social science and history — outscored their classmates who did not take a core curriculum. Comparisons of New York students who took core curricula with those who did not showed a combined average score difference on the three sections of 181 points. 

It is critical that all students — especially those traditionally underrepresented in postsecondary education —have access to the curriculum that will best prepare them for college. 

“The members of the College Board believe that all young people deserve a high-quality education that will prepare them to succeed in college and in their careers. By establishing a common standard across our country, we will be able to provide a readily understood pathway to student success,” said Robert Alig, head of the Middle States Region of the College Board.

To this end, the College Board and the state of New York are participants in the Common Core State Standards Initiative, a national effort to design common college and career-readiness standards in English language arts and mathematics that are evidence based and internationally benchmarked. 

The efforts to establish common core standards build on the success that has been achieved using rigorous curricula such as the Advanced Placement Program. Studies continue to show that students who score at least a 3 on an AP Exam in high school experience greater academic success in college and graduate from college at higher rates than their comparable, non-AP peers.  In addition to completing a core curriculum, those students who took more demanding honors or Advanced Placement courses also tended to have higher SAT scores. For example, students who took English honors or AP courses scored 82 points higher in critical reading than the average of all students in New York, and 85 points higher in writing. Similarly, students taking math honors or AP courses had a 111-point advantage compared to the average SAT mathematics scores for the state.

The PSAT/NMSQT Provides Path to SAT Success

The Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) is an important step on the path to college readiness, providing valuable tools that can help students understand their academic strengths and weaknesses in time to prepare for the SAT and education opportunities beyond high school. The state of New York funds PSAT/NMSQT for sophomores in participating districts. Of the SAT takers in the New York class of 2010, 85.5 percent reported taking the PSAT/NMSQT.

The PSAT/NMSQT measures the same skills as the SAT, and students who take the PSAT/NMSQT often perform better on the SAT. In New York, SAT takers who took the PSAT/NMSQT scored, on average, 151 points higher combined on the SAT than those who did not take the PSAT/NMSQT.

            Students who participate in the PSAT/NMSQT program receive free access to My College QuickStart, which includes an enhanced score report that allows students to review each test question, their answers to the questions and the correct answers with explanations. Through My College QuickStart, PSAT/NMSQT takers also have access to My SAT Study Plan, an online customized plan that highlights skills and topics for additional review and practice based on each student’s performance on the PSAT/NMSQT.

SAT Participation and Performance

Overall, 161,139 students in the New York class of 2010 took the SAT, marking a 0.8 percent increase in SAT participants when compared to the New York class of 2009. New York is among the top three states with the highest SAT participation rate; 85.5 percent of all New York high school graduates take the SAT at some point during their high school careers. 

Among the SAT takers in the New York class of 2010, 84 percent reported attending public schools, where students showed a three-point gain in critical reading and writing scores, while mathematics scores remained stable. Average scores for the entire group of New York SAT takers remained relatively stable, with critical reading dropping one point, mathematics declining three points and writing unchanged. 

College Plans of New York SAT Takers

Among the students in the New York class of 2010 who took the SAT, 23.8 percent indicated plans to attain a bachelor’s degree, while 52.1 percent indicated plans to attain a more advanced (master’s or doctorate) degree. The vast majority (78.6 percent) of New York SAT takers also indicated that they planned to apply for financial aid. 

In the New York class of 2010, students who took the SAT and/or SAT Subject Tests sent score reports to a total of 2,561 institutions.

Top 10 colleges and universities receiving scores from New York SAT takers:

1.      State University of New York– Binghamton

2.      State University of New York–Stony Brook   

3.      City University of New York

4.      State University of New York–Albany 

5.      State University of New York, University at Buffalo

6.      Hunter College, City University of New York

7.      St. Johns University

8.      State University of New York, College at Buffalo

9.      State University of New York at New Paltz

10.   Cornell University