SAT Participation and Performance and the Attainment of College Readiness Benchmark Scores for the Class of 2015. Memorandum

This memorandum describes the SAT participation and performance for the Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) Class of 2015 compared with the graduating seniors in Maryland and the nation. The attachment provides the detailed results of SAT and ACT by high school and student group for graduates in 2011-2015. The mean SAT combined score for the Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) Class of 2015 was 1629, a decline of 21 points from 2014. Overall, SAT participation for the MCPS Class of 2015 declined from 70.6 percent in 2011 to 67.8 percent in 2015. From 2014 to 2015, decreases in participation were observed for almost all racial/ethnic groups and services (ranging from 0.8 to 6.5 percentage points); a 3 percentage point increase was observed for Black or African American graduates. Among all racial/ethnic groups, the SAT participation rate for Black or African American graduates increased 2.7 percentage points from 2011 to 2015, while the rates for graduates of other racial/ethnic groups decreased. The most significant decline was the rate for White graduates (5.2 percentage points). The most recent mean SAT combined score for the MCPS Class of 2015 (1629) was 8 points lower than that for the Class of 2011 (1637). Overall, MCPS graduates continued to improve the rate of meeting college readiness benchmark scores from 50.4 percent in 2011 to 52.7 percent in 2015.