Scores on the SAT college entrance exam continued to decline this year while the College Board report also showed that Latino and black students scores continue to lag behind those of Whites and Asians.

The SAT “Report on College & Career Readiness” released yesterday revealed that “only 43 percent of SAT® takers in the class of 2012 graduated from high school with the level of academic preparedness associated with a high likelihood of college success.”  This percentage is consistent with that of the class of 2011, which also met the benchmark at a rate of 43 percent.

According to the Wall Street Journal, SAT scores for the high-school graduating class of 2012 fell in two of the test’s three sections, with reading dropping to the lowest level in four decades on the college-entrance test.

Among SAT takers in the class of 2012, 45 percent were minority students, making this the most diverse class of SAT takers ever. Among public school SAT takers in the class of 2012, 46 percent were minority students.

In the SAT class of 2012, 36 percent of all students reported their parents’ highest level of education as a high school diploma or less. Underserved minority students accounted for 46 percent of first-generation college goers.