SAT Scores for Class of 2008 Halt Slide of Recent Years

Overall SAT scores for the class of 2008 were identical to those of last year's class, it was announced last week, but that hasn't dissuaded experts from sifting through the data for subtle shifts and hints of potential trends.

The College Board , the New York City-based nonprofit organization that owns the college-entrance exam, released data showing that last spring's graduating class earned a mean composite score of 1511 on a scale of 600 to 2400.

That composite score was the same as the one earned by the class of 2007, which also posted scores identical to this year's class on all three sections of the exam: 502 for the critical-reading section, 515 for the mathematics section, and 494 for the writing section. Each section has a minimum score of 200 and a...