Did the Gender Gap Narrow as SAT Scores Dropped 98 Points?

Is this proof of a decrease in US education quality?

Is this decrease due to the increase in the number of minorities?

Someone taking today's SAT test would score 25-36 points higher than if that person took the 1960 test. Total SAT scores declined 73 points between 1960 and 1993. This is a total decrease in SAT Scores of 98 to 109 points in less than 4 decades.

GDP per Worker by the Gold Standard declined $4,287 for each 1 point increase in the percent of US managers and administrators who are females.

Males are 61.7% of those scoring over 550 in SAT Math and 21% of Bachelor's Degrees in Education.

Anti-male discrimination under the guise of "affirmative action" greatly reduced the number of more highly qualified teachers in the US, followed by a 98 point decrease in SAT scores and erosion of key technical skills--no nation's 12 graders scored lower than ours in TIMSS geometry.

1. Sandia National Laboratories

This national lab completed a study which suggests that the 98 point decrease was due to the increase in the percent of females and minorities taking the test. Most of the increase in the percent of test-takers who are minorities are also females. Using a liberal estimate of the increase in the percent of minority and female test-takers since 1960, the actual decrease in SAT scores since 1960 is 16 times greater than the increase in the percent of lower scoring test-takers predicts that it should have been, accounting for only 6 out of the 98 points. Anyone at Sandia National Laboratories who signed this study should not be allowed to handle our nation's nuclear weapons.
 

1. "The Gender Gap Narrowed?"

Wrong. The media suggests that the decrease in this "gender gap" from 47 points in 1967 to 45 points in 1993 is indicative of "feminist progress". Table 127 below from the US Department of Education shows that any perceived decrease in the "gender gap" is due solely to the decrease in overall scores, which reduced the denominator. The base SAT score is 200, thus the 47 point "gender gap" in 1967 was a gap of 17.6% (47/267), and the 45 point "gender gap" in 1993 was a gap of 17.5% (43/257). When the rounding of SAT points is taken into account, the "gender gaps" of these two scores from 26 years apart are identical.
 

1. "17.5% Is Not a Big Difference?"

Wrong.    A 17.5 % reduction in the math skills of many employees translates into greater than a 35 % reduction in productivity. A 35% reduction in productivity translates into greater than a 70% increase in the price a company's final product. A 70% increase in the price of the final product translates into much greater than a 70% decrease in sales--it is a 100% decrease in sales. A mere 2% difference in prices, if sustained, is sufficient to cause a 100% decrease in sales. This is why increasing the percent of US managers and administrators who are females from 19% to 43%, which  reduced their composite SAT Math scores by 14 points, parallelled a 51% decrease in GDP per Worker by the Gold Standard.

A 17.5% difference is unsustainable.
 

1. Why Did SAT Scores Decrease 16 Times Faster Than The Increase In Minorities Predicted It Should?

Feminism. Failure to properly motivate boys. Denigration of the male sex by educators. Family breakdown. The rapid reduction in the number of male teachers. The rapid increase in the percent of female teachers. Banning of school prayer. Loss of ethical and moral values in school. The 76 point drop from 8th-12th grade US students on TIMSS.
 

1. Where Would the US Rank On TIMSS If SAT Scores Had Remained At Their Level of 1960?

One TIMSS point is equal to 1-2 SAT points. Had US education quality merely remained flat since 1960, the US score of 424 in TIMSS geometry would have been between 522 and 620, which would have put us in the range of countries like Belgium, Spain, Russia, Switzerland, Slovak Republic, France, Bulgaria, Hungary, Ireland, Denmark, Israel, Thailand, and Cyprus. This is well below countries like Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong. It is slightly above countries like Lithuania, Germany, New Zealand, England, Norway, Canada, Greece, Scotland, Australia, Czech Republic, Latvia, Sweden, Romania, Italy, Slovenia, Austria, and Iran.
 

1. Is The SAT Test An Accurate Measurement of This "Gender Gap"

No. The Graduate Record Examination more accurately measures both the accomplishments of undergraduate students and the sex differences of these accomplishments. The GRE shows that, even though males are less than 45% of college admissions and females are more than 55%, the top fiftieth percentile of college graduates are made up 98.5% by males and 1.5% by females.

CALCULATIONS:

1. DTAB127.TXT shows that SAT Scores in the US decreased 73 points since 1960, plus the fact that someone taking the SAT test today would score 25-36 points higher today than he would have in the 1960 test, for a total decline of 98 to 109 points.
2. This table also shows that the average difference in SAT scores between males and females averaged 47 points and was 3 points higher in 1993 than it was in 1968.
3. dtab254.htm shows that the percent of BS degrees which were awarded to blacks, Hispanics, and Indians increased from 8.8% to 10.5%. Based solely on this table, a ROM (rough order of magnitude) estimate of the increase in the percent of minorities taking the SAT test since 1960 is 3%.
4. dtab129.htm shows that the percent of SAT test-takers who are females increased from 50.5% in 1976 to 52.6% in 1993. Based solely on this table, a ROM estimate of the increase in the percent of females taking the SAT test since 1960 is 4%.
5. This table also shows that the *number* of SAT test-takers increased by only 4.5% between 1976 and 1993, which is less than the rate of growth of the US population.
6. satmfind.htm shows that the weighted average score of blacks, Hispanics, and Indians is 145 SAT points lower than the average scores of whites.

Based solely on these data points:

*Does not include the fact that someone taking today's SAT test today score 25-36 points higher than on the 1960 test, because of changes in the test. Average male/female gap in math was 46 SAT points.

The Dollar Value of an SAT Point
GDP per Worker according to the "Consumer Price Index" increased 21.9% between 1970 and 1993.  By the Gold Standard, it decreased from $117,678  in 1970  to $57,661 in 1993, a 51% decrease.  During that same time the percent  of "managers and administrators" who were females in the US increased from 19% in 1970 to 43% in 1993, giving us a chance to calculate the value of an SAT point.

The average SAT Math score in 1970 for females was 461 and for males was 505;  in 1993 for females was 457 and for males was 502.  The composite SAT Math scores of managers and administrators thus decreased from 497 in 1970 to 483 by 1993, a 14 point decrease.  The base score of the SAT score is 200, so GDP by the Gold Standard per Worker per Average SAT Math point was $396 per point in 1970 and $204 per point in 1993.  If GDP per Worker & SAT Math Scores are directly linked, a 14 point decrease in composite SAT scores would have been a decrease in GDP per Worker of $6,594.  Actual incomes decreased by $60,017, which is $53,513 more than, or 9.1 times,  the calculated decrease.
 

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