Study links children's lead levels, SAT scores - USATODAY.com: Could a decades-long drop in the concentration of lead in children's blood help explain rising SAT scores?
A Virginia economist who pored over years of national data says there's an 'incredibly strong' correlation, which adds to a growing body of research on lead's harmful effects.
The findings, to be published this winter in the journal Environmental Research, suggest that from 1953 to 2003, the fall and rise of the average SAT math and verbal score has tracked the rise and fall of blood lead levels so closely that half of the change in scores over 50 years, and possibly more, probably is the result of lead, says economist Rick Nevin.
He controlled for rising numbers of students taking SAT prep courses and for rising numbers of students who speak a foreign language at home — that would depress verbal scores.
Nevin estimates that lead explains 45% of the historic variation in verbal scores and 65% in math scores.
