PROVIDENCE -- Rhode Island once again trails its New England neighbors and the national average in math and reading scores on the SAT college entrance exam. In addition, the state's scores dropped a total of 11 points since last year, mirroring a national downward trend on the recently revised test.

About 69 percent of Rhode Island seniors who graduated high school this year took the test, averaging 495 in reading and 502 in math. For the first time students were also tested in writing. Rhode Island seniors averaged 490. Each section is worth 800 possible points, for a total of 2,400.

These scores trail the national averages -- 503 in reading, 518 in math and 497 in writing.

New Hampshire students scored highest in New England, averaging 520 in reading, 524 in math and 509 in writing, followed by Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut and Maine. Rhode Island students scored higher than their Maine counterparts (502 to 501) in math -- the only section in which Rhode Island students outscored a New England state.

Last year, Rhode Island seniors who took the SAT averaged 503 in reading (8 points higher than this year) and 505 in math (3 points higher).

Nationally, test scores also dropped, by 5 points in reading and 2 points in math. Only six other states had a drop equal to or larger than Rhode Island's.

Officials at the College Board, which administers the SAT, and Rhode Island education officials say the decline in scores was caused by changes made to the test last year. These included adding a writing section, lengthening the three-hour test by 45 minutes, dropping analogies, adding more critical reading and advanced algebra math problems.

"Obviously we are not pleased by the drop at all," said Peter McWalters, Rhode Island's commissioner of elementary and secondary education. "But it's a national trend and they changed the test. The reading was much more difficult, the math was harder, and the test is longer, because they added writing."

McWalters said the state has put several initiatives in place to help raise Rhode Island's scores, particularly in reading. But many of the changes have occurred too recently to affect seniors who graduated in June, he said.

The state began requiring an individual literacy plan for all 9th and 10th graders who read two to three grade levels behind. A new statewide curriculum will roll out later this year, and high school students will take new standardized tests in English and math in fall 2007. In addition, about 25 school districts are pushing sophomores to take the PSAT, an exam that helps prepare students for the SAT. The state will pay for the PSAT. These measures should boost scores over the next several years, McWalters said.

"We are completely aware of the reading difficulty and we think we have the strategies in place so that we should see increasingly higher scores for the cohort going through the system now, that is currently in 10th grade," McWalters said.

AS IN PAST years, students in wealthy suburbs such as Barrington and East Greenwich scored the highest. Barrington students averaged 580 in reading, 552 in math and 543 in writing. Urban districts with high concentrations of low-income and immigrant students languished at the bottom. Central High School in Providence had among the lowest scores, with 344 in reading, 344 in math and 342 in writing.

When scores for private school students are separated from the overall state performance, the scores drop significantly. The state education department said 6,067 public high school seniors took the SAT, averaging 484 in reading (11 points below the state average), 494 in math (8 points below) and 478 in writing (12 points below). More than 1,600 private school students took the test.

Critics of standardized tests such as the SATs said that this year's sudden drop in scores highlights the failings of the test, as does the pattern of wealthier students performing better than poorer ones.

"The seven-point decline nationally is the biggest drop in more than three decades, and it reflects changes in the test, not changes in educational quality," said Bob Schaeffer, director of Fair Test, National Center for Fair and Open Testing. "When the change in a composition of the test -- not the quality of test takers -- can move scores one way or another, this is another indication that the SAT is not a reliable measure of measuring educational quality."

Schaeffer said demographics play a powerful role in SAT scores.

According to an analysis by Fair Test, students from families earning less than $20,000 a year averaged 445 in reading, 465 in math and 440 in writing. Students from families earning more than $100,000 a year averaged 549 in reading, 564 in math and 543 in writing.

"For every $10,000 increase in family income, test scores go up by 20 to 40 points," Schaeffer said. "We need to recognize the fact that there is a direct relation between family income and test scores."

jjordan@projo.com / (401) 277-7254