College Board officials, who had signaled in recent months that scores would be lower this year, downplayed the seven-point decline. They said the drop in math scores amounted to one-fifth of one test question, and the decline in reading to one-half of one question.
"That's almost insignificant," College Board President Gaston Caperton said at a Washington news conference. "So am I concerned about it? No."
He and other board officials attributed the drop partly to the fact that about 3% fewer test takers this year -- out of 1.5 million -- decided to take the exam over. Combined reading and math scores typically jump 30 points when a student retakes the test.
Because the test was new, students in the class of 2006 were able to choose between the older and newer versions. Many who took the older SAT, without the essay, may have opted not to retake it, said Wayne Camara, the College Board's vice president for research. Other students, who waited to face the test until later in their high school careers, may have had fewer chances to retake it, he said.
The officials said fatigue was not to blame. Camara said an analysis of 700,000 exams taken in 2005 showed that student performance did not suffer as the test went on, despite the increased length -- up 45 minutes from the previous 3 hours.
Still, the results spurred fresh criticism of the College Board, with some experts saying the point declines, along with the 2005 scoring errors, should raise questions about whether the new SAT is comparable to the old. About 5,000 students who took the test in October were found to have received incorrect scores, a problem the College Board blamed largely on answer sheets affected by humidity.
The latest results "should be a wake-up call to policymakers to rethink their idea that the SAT can be the accurate gauge they think it is," said Bob Schaeffer, public education director of the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, which opposes most standardized testing.
Christine Parker, executive director of high school course content at the Princeton Review, a test prep company, said she was surprised to see the College Board minimizing the score declines, noting that it has previously hailed minor increases.
"They're a bit on the defensive," Parker said. Perhaps fewer students retook the SAT in 2006, she suggested, because more took the ACT, a rival exam, in which an essay is optional.
