Have modern presidents like Barack Obama or Donald Trump released SAT scores publicly?

1. What the records — and the law — allow: privacy over disclosure

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) bars schools from releasing student transcripts or test scores without the student’s consent, meaning presidents, like any citizen, are legally entitled to keep SAT/ACT results private; commentators explicitly point out both Obama and Trump “are within their rights to keep their transcripts and test scores to themselves” ^[1].

2. What the reporting says about Obama’s scores: rumor, not release

Multiple pieces that collect celebrity or president test-score rumors list an unverified ACT rumor for Barack Obama (commonly cited as around 30) but emphasize that these are speculative and that no official, verified SAT/ACT score has been publicly released by Obama himself or by institutions ^{[2] [1]}. Available sources do not mention any official, school-released score attributed to Obama.

3. What the reporting says about Trump’s scores: no public score, but controversy

News reporting and analysis state there is no public, verified SAT score for Donald Trump; several outlets note that Trump’s grades and standardized-test results have not been disclosed and that laws prevent such disclosure without permission ^{[3] [1]}. Michael Cohen’s congressional testimony alleged Trump directed threats to schools and the College Board to keep his records private, but that testimony documents efforts to suppress release — not a published SAT score ^[3].

4. Secondary compilations and score-lists: unreliable aggregation

A number of tutoring and test-score-collection websites list presidents’ scores or “rumored” figures, but these are compilations and often flag the lack of verification (for example, SoFlo Tutors notes no known SAT/ACT score for Trump and calls Obama’s score a rumor) ^[2]. These aggregators should not be treated as primary evidence; they reproduce speculation and rely on older reporting or hearsay ^[4].

5. Why the question matters — politics, image and selective disclosures

Commentators argue the political theater around academic records is as important as the records themselves: critics have used demands for transcripts or scores as a tool to question intelligence or honesty, while supporters emphasize privacy and irrelevance of old test scores to presidential fitness ^{[5] [6]}. Reporting on Trump emphasizes this dynamic, noting his past public critiques of Obama’s academic record while his own academic details remain undisclosed ^{[5] [3]}.

6. Competing perspectives and limitations in reporting

Some accounts present allegations or claims about low or altered scores (including conjecture about others taking tests), but available reporting does not confirm such claims with primary documents; Newsweek and other outlets frame allegations and testimony without presenting an official score release ^[3]. Available sources do not mention any verified SAT/ACT scores published by the presidents themselves, and no source here provides primary-school-release documentation.

7. Bottom line for readers seeking a definitive answer

There is no reliable evidence that Barack Obama or Donald Trump publicly released verified SAT scores; privacy law protects these records and reporting distinguishes between rumor/aggregation and authenticated disclosures ^{[1] [3]}. Allegations about attempts to block release (in Trump’s case) are recorded in testimony, but that testimony does not equate to an official score being published ^[3].

If you want, I can: (a) compile a short list of primary documents and contemporary news articles to search for any authenticated academic records, or (b) outline steps someone would need to take to try to lawfully obtain a past student’s scores (noting FERPA constraints).