Fewer Oregon students are taking the SAT exam, according to information released Thursday by the College Board.
But interest is increasing in another test.
The College Board report for Oregon shows SAT participation has gone down, but shows the opposite for Advanced Placement exams.
Between 2011 and 2015, seven percent fewer students took the SAT. But over the same period, 23 percent more high schoolers took AP tests. An increasing number of minority students took the exams - both when you look at the SAT and AP exams. That's a trend that state officials are especially happy to see.
"Reaching our goals around college preparedness and college attendance will take time," said deputy superintendent of public instruction Salam Noor in a statement. "But getting a more diverse student population taking the SAT and Advanced Placement exams is an important step.”
Average performance on the major college prep tests stayed about the same in recent years. About 63 percent of students taking AP exams passed, with far higher passing rates for white students than for minorities.
Oregon also required all 11th graders to take the new Smarter Balanced exam, regardless of whether they were also taking multiple college prep tests. Preliminary results for that exam were published over the summer, showing in spite of the participation requirement, many 11th graders avoided taking the test.
