Recentering and Realigning the SAT Score Distributions: How and Why

Abstract

The process employed to produce the conversions that take scores from the original SAT scales to recentered scales, in which reference group scores are centered near the midpoint of the score‐reporting range, is laid out. For the purposes of this article, SAT Verbal and SAT Mathematical scores were placed on recentered scales, which have reporting ranges of 920 to 980, means of 950, and standard deviations of 11. (The 920‐to‐980 scale is used in this article to highlight the distinction between it and the old 200‐to‐800 scale. In actuality, recentered scores were reported on a 200‐to‐800 scale.) Recentering was accomplished via a linear transformation of normally distributed scores that were obtained from a continuized, smoothed frequency distribution of original SAT scores that were originally on augmented two‐digit scales (i.e., discrete scores rounded to either 0 or 5 in the third decimal place). These discrete scores were obtained for all students in the 1990 Reference Group using 35 different editions of the SAT spanning October 1988 to June 1990. The performance of this 1990 Reference Group on the original and recentered scales is described. The effects of recentering on scores of individuals and the 1990 Reference Group are also examined. Finally, recentering did not occur solely on the basis of its technical merit. Issues associated with converting recentering from a possibility into a reality are discussed.

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