The U.S. education system is under fire this week for what appears to be depressing news that SAT scores have dropped, especially reading scores. But there’s good news too, that the relatively small drop in reading scores (3 points out of 800) came with a very big increase in test takers. The Department of Education reports that 93 percent of high school juniors took the test this year, up from only 36 percent just one year ago! Twenty-seven percent of the takers come from families where other languages are spoken in the home besides English, which might explain the lower English reading scores. This increase in test takers is another example of how the recession is leading more people to strive to advanced education. Don’t let some writers fool you into believing this is a sign of the demise of our education system or the deterioration of reading skills brought on by Social Media. We also learned last week that Falmouth, Maine comes out number one on a list of 17,589 towns in America for its housing affordability to education ratio. For a relatively low median house value ($351K), your kids can go to a school with nationally recognized top results. The study showed up in a reputable source, the “Forbes/GreatSchools list of Best Schools for Your Real Estate Buck.”
