Declining college admission test scores during the 1970s raised concerns that America's primary schools were inadequately preparing students for college or the workforce. Rock's (1985) analysis of SAT scores indicated that seniors in 1980 scoring at the 50th percentile for vocabulary would have placed at the 41st percentile in 1972. Mathematics scores at the 50th percentile in 1980 were equivalent to scores at the 45th percentile in 1972. (Contains 3 tables.)