By Justin Pope
AP Education Writer

Average math and reading SAT scores fell four points for the high school class of 2007 to their lowest mark since 1999.

Last spring’s graduating seniors scored on average 502, out of a possible 800 points, on the critical reading section of the country’s most popular college entrance exam, down from 503 for the class of 2006. Math scores fell three points from 518 to 515.

This year’s declines follow a seven-point drop last year for the first class to take a lengthened and redesigned SAT, which included higher-level math questions and eliminated analogies. The College Board, which owns the exam, insisted the new exam wasn’t harder and attributed last year’s drop to fewer students taking the exam a second time. Students typically fare about 30 points better when they take the exam again.

The College Board’s score report, for release Tuesday, did not offer an explanation why this year’s scores were even lower, but it did note that a record number of students - just short of 1.5 million - took the test. The cohort of test-takers also was the most diverse ever, with minority students accounting for 39%: There has been a persistent gap between the scores of whites and the two largest U.S. minority groups, Hispanics and blacks.

In New York, 99% of students took the exam, up from 88% last year. Maine recently became the first state to use the SAT to meet its Grade 11 assessment requirements under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, and 100% of students took the exam there, compared to about three-quarters in the class of 2006.

While the growing number of test-takers is considered a sign more people are interested in college, it can also weigh down average scores, because the pool of test-takers expands by including, on average, more lower’scoring students.

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