An Investigation of 2024 PSAT/SAT
Results
Damian Betebenner
The National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment
July 30th, 2024
RIDE TAC Meeting
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License.
PSAT/SAT Test Administration
• Since 2017 the Rhode Island Department of Education has
administered the PSAT as part of the spring test administration
to 10th graders
• Since 2018 the Rhode Island Department of Education has
administered the SAT to 11th graders.
• Both the PSAT and SAT include sections in ELA and
Mathematics.
Transition to Digital SAT
• In 2024, the College Board transitioned to the Digital SAT
administration platform.
• Several aspects of the assessment changed during this transition in
terms of both user-facing features (computer versus P&P
administration) as well as backend features (adaptive versus fixed-
form).
• Changes in the results in 2024 from 2023 led to concern amongst
some states about test equivalence.
• The analyses in this presentation are intended to support discussions
about the equivalence of tests and comparability of results.
Introduction
• We examine student performance on the PSAT/SAT in several ways
• Participation frequencies
• Mean/Standard Deviations of Scores by year
• Mean/Median Baseline SGP by year (SAT only)
• Baseline SGPs are normed using pre-pandemic, PSAT-SAT
growth norms.
Rhode Island PSAT/SAT Participation
PSAT-ELA PSAT-Math SAT-ELA SAT-Math
Frequencies
• In general, there was a substantial decrease in participation due to the
pandemic.
• For the PSAT, the number of students tested has roughly returned to
pre-pandemic level.
• For the SAT, in 2024 there was a substantial (approximate 8%) increase
in the number of students tested.
Rhode Island Scaled Score Mean/SD
PSAT-ELA PSAT-Math SAT-ELA SAT-Math
Density Plot: ELA PSAT ELA PSAT 10
Density 0.003
Scale Score
Density Plot: Mathematics PSAT MATHEMATICS PSAT 10
Density 0.003
Scale Score
Density Plot: Mathematics SAT
Summary Measures
• Both ELA and Mathematics PSAT saw decreases in mean scaled scores
over the last six years. The drop in mathematics in 2023-2024 from
436.4 to 418.4 was particularly large.
• Both ELA and Mathematics PSAT saw increases in the standard
deviation in 2023-2024 from prior years.
• Both ELA and Mathematics SAT saw decreases in mean scaled scores,
particularly in 2023-2024. Mathematics dropped from 461.5 to 445.9.
• Both ELA and Mathematics SAT saw increases in standard deviation in
• The number of LOSS (200) scores in the SAT saw a large increase in
Rhode Island: Mean SGP/Count
SAT-ELA SAT-Math
Baseline SGPs
• Because growth is conditioned on prior scores, baseline SGPs are
much more robust to changes in the population of students tested
than status measures.
• Baseline SGPs were fairly stable across the last several years in ELA,
less so in mathematics. The drop in the mean SGP to 44.4 in
2023-2024 in mathematics is synonymous with the drop in
achievement observed.
• The low median SGP in mathematics was caused (largely) by low SGPs
of students in the 6th, 7th, and 8th prior score deciles.
• The Center works with another state using the PSAT/SAT tests in high
school and observed a very similar pattern (as evidenced by the
following two goodness of fit plots)
Conclusions
• Results comparing 2023-2024 SAT results with prior years indicate
discrepancies in mathematics which suggest assessment changes may
have
• In general, assessment changes are always accompanied by score
discrepancies such as those observed here.
• Causal conclusions are not substantiated by these secondary analyses.
However, further investigations into the digital SAT format —
particularly for higher achieving students where lower growth was
observed — may suggest causal factors for lower scores.
About this copy
An Investigation of 2024 PSAT/SAT Results — Rhode Island Technical Advisory Committee, July 30, 2024.
This is an image-based copy of the original Keynote slides; builds and animations are flattened.