"They did "re-normalize" the SAT a few years ago, to make up for the fact that the average was consistently sliding."
You have it backwards. The average SAT score has been RISING and perfect scores and 1500+/2300+ scores are getting more common. The test was recentered in 1994 because the average score had risen above what it was intended to be (1000). As of today the theoretical average should be 1000, but its slightly higher (around 1030, I believe).
Sorry, but you have it exactly wrong. The combined scores were moved upward by nearly 100 points. The rationale was that the lower averages were misleading because a larger pool of students with "different" demographic characteristics were taking the test. Moreover, the test was made easier beginning the 1990s by dropping analogy and antonym questions. Then there is also the introduction of calculators and expanded "special accomodations." The SAT is very politically charged, and it has been massaged in other ways in an attempt to get the results for girls and minorities that liberals in academia want. If the 1964 tests were given today under strict third party supervision, it is likely that the results would be quite ugly.
No...Olie Okie was right. SAT scores were artificially inflated upwards. The new scoring system gave students better scores than the old system would have, to a certain extent covering up a slide in student performance.
The SAT was "recentered" in 1996. A pre-1996 verbal score of 730 became a "perfect" 800. Here's ETS score conversion table:
http://www.collegeboard.com/sat/cbsenior/equiv/rt019019.html