Decoding SAT Scores: A Multifaceted Analysis of Socioeconomic and Educational Influences Across Diverse Regions

Prior research has consistently shown that students’ SAT scores are influenced by factors beyond academic ability, including socioeconomic background and ethnicity. This study employed aggregated school-level data from Massachusetts and New York City (NYC) to assess the quantitative relationships between average SAT scores and school-level demographics and interventions. The assessment aims to help regional and national education policymakers identify factors related to school academic merits and devise inclusive and effective ways to promote educational equality. Three analytical methods, multiple linear regression, relaxed Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO), and decision trees, were conducted sequentially to decipher the complex relationships among variables. The analysis showed that schools with high percentages of Black, Hispanic, and low-income students tend to have lower average scores than schools with high percentages of White, Asian, and well-off students. Moreover, socioeconomic disadvantage is the most powerful and consistent predictor of lower SAT scores, with race and good academic preparation (i.e., percent attending college) functioning as secondary influences. The results indicate that SAT score disparities reflect structural inequities, and more SAT preparation resources are needed at schools with higher percentages of Black, Hispanic, and low-income students to level the playing field in SAT testing.