State SAT scores hold steady

The average score for Louisiana students who took the SAT college admission test held steady this year in critical reading and mathematics and dropped slightly in writing, The Associated Press reports. Louisiana’s average SAT scores had dropped in recent years. But this year the critical reading average score was 555 and the mathematics average was 550, matching the 2010 averages. The writing score was 546, down a point from last year. Louisiana’s SAT takers beat the national averages. Across the country, the average reading score on the SAT fell three points to 497, while the national math score fell one point to 514. Louisiana has a relatively small number of SAT takers—2,787 this year. More than 35,000 Louisiana students took another college admission test, the ACT, the state’s average composite score of which was up slightly.