More High School Students Taking SAT Test

More than half of California high school seniors in this year's class, or 53 percent, took the SAT test at some point during their high school careers with minority students accounting for 65 percent of students who took the test.

The results for all seniors, released by the College Board on Wednesday, represent a 4 percent increase over 2010 and a 13 percent increase since 2007. Of the 222,658 students who took the test, 184,890 were public school SAT takers, representing 48 percent of the state’s public high school graduates, according to the results.

For minority students, the class of 2011 was the most diverse class in state history, according to a press release from the California Department of Education. Minority students composed 64 percent of test-takers in 2010 and 58 percent in 2007.

Among California public school students in 2011 compared to last year, writing scores decreased 5 points to 494; critical reading scores dropped 6 points to 494, and math scores dropped 6 points to 513.

"I am pleased that more than half of California seniors took the SAT in 2010 and that the participation of minority students set a new record for our state,” State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson said in the release Wednesday. “College has increasingly become the price of admission to the job market, so it is encouraging that more students than ever see college in their futures.”

Among the California SAT takers who answered optional questions about their college plans, 27 percent of students indicated plans to attain a bachelor’s degree, 54 percent indicated plans to attain a more advanced (master’s or doctoral) degree, and 76 percent indicated that they planned to apply for financial aid.

Nearly 81 percent of high school seniors from major high schools in the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District took the SAT in the 2009-10 year, according to California Department of Education records. Average scores were 620 for math, 571 for critical reading and 593 for writing.

The latest information on how PVPUSD students performed on the SAT will not be available until later this year.