GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

Data courtesy of the city Department of Education.

As promised, here’s some more detail on who takes the SAT in the city — broken down by race and painted as a picture over time.

The number of black students taking the SAT is now at 10,438, up from 6,763 in 2002. The increase among Hispanic students is even more pronounced: From 5,400 in 2002 to 11,414 in 2009. Scores for both groups in 2009 were stuck in the low 400′s on each subject matter. That would make about an 825 out of 1600 on the old scale, which included just math and reading and no writing.

Also, curiously, the number of white students taking the SAT dropped in the city this year (though it’s still above the 2002 number) as in America. On the 1600 math-and-reading scale, white students this year scored 1,031 on average.

And everyone seems to score about the same on the new writing test as on the math and reading test.

But, like we keep (unconvincingly?) saying, we’re on blog-vacation! So please help us out by pointing out the trends you see in the comments. (And check out Caroline’s point about not putting too much stock in changes in the overall averages.)
NYCsat Demographics 2002-09