HARTFORD — Results from Connecticut’s first statewide SAT exam appear similar to last year’s results from a different standardized test.
The Department of Education announced Wednesday that 65 percent of 11th graders who took the SAT met or exceeded the achievement standard for language arts, while 39.3 percent met or exceeded the standard for mathematics.
Those figures are comparable to last year’s results from the Smarter Balanced Assessment Curriculum, or SBAC tests.
The goal of replacing the statewide test for the national exam was to reduce the amount of standardized testing and instead focus on preparing students for college and future careers.
State education officials stressed the two tests should not be directly compared. They noted this year’s SAT has been redesigned from prior SATs to better gauge a student’s mastery of Common Core education standards being taught in schools.
For the 2015-2016 school year, the SATs were offered instead of the SBAC, and were be free for all Connecticut students. The SAT typically costs more than $50.
Malloy said last year that lower income students who could not to take the exam due to the expense will now be able to do so, a huge benefit since the SATs is often requisite for admission to higher education institutions.