Graduating seniors in Virginia this year did better than their national peers in language arts and mathematics on the SAT, according to the Virginia Department of Education.
About 54,900 public school students took the college-readiness test this year, with 54 percent meeting or exceeding the test’s benchmarks in mathematics and reading and writing, compared to 44 percent nationwide.
The average score was 15 points higher this year than it was for Virginia’s class of 2017, which coincides with similar improvements seen nationwide.
The College Board, which owns the SAT, attributed that jump to a revision of the test in 2016 “to better align the test with high school content standards and academic skills identified as important to success in college,” a Department of Education news release states.
More students are taking the SAT, as well. Sixty-five percent of graduating seniors took the test in 2018, up 6.4 percentage points from 2017. That also matches a nationwide trend, with more students taking the SAT than the rival ACT test.
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