IDAHO RELEASES FIRST-EVER RESULTS OF STATEWIDE SAT SCHOOL DAY

For the first time ever, Idaho has statewidebaseline data on how students perform on college entrance exams.
Last April, nearly 17,000 high school juniors tookthe SAT college entrance exam – paid for by the state – which has increased thenumber of students taking a college entrance exam significantly. Just 2,829students took the SAT in Idaho last year.
“I am excited we are now providing this greatopportunity to all Idaho high school juniors across the state. We now knowwhere we are and the areas in which we need to improve to ensure every studentgraduates from high school prepared to go on to postsecondary education or theworkforce, without the need for remediation once they get there,”Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna said.
The results of the first-ever Idaho SAT School Dayshow that one in four high school juniors taking the exam met the college- andcareer-readiness benchmarks set by the College Board. States like Maine andDelaware, which test all students on the SAT, showed similar results the firstyear they tested all students, according to the College Board.
The average score for Idaho high school juniors was448 in critical reading, 454 in mathematics and 447 in writing. A score of 500in each subject area has shown a student will be successful in postsecondaryeducation after high school.
In years past, students voluntarily chose whether ornot to take the ACT or SAT to prepare for postsecondary education and most paidfor their own exams. Now, all high school juniors are required to take acollege entrance exam paid for by the state. In 2007, the Idaho State Board ofEducation and Idaho Legislature approved new high school graduationrequirements for the Class of 2013, requiring students to take moremathematics, more science and for all high school juniors to complete a collegeentrance exam. In 2011, through Students Come First, the state has been able tofund Idaho SAT School Day in which all high school juniors can take the SAT orACCUPLACER exam, paid for by the state.
“Giving every student the opportunity to take theSAT is a step toward increasing access to postsecondary education,” said KenEdmunds, President of the State Board of Education. “The Board is committed tohelping all students prepare for success after high school.”
The state chose to contract with the College Boardto provide the SAT and ACCUPLACER statewide after a competitive bidding andthorough review process. Students can still choose to take the ACT or COMPASS,but will have to pay to take them outside the school day.
The ACCUPLACER and COMPASS aretests that provide students with useful information about their academic skillsin math, English, and reading. The results are used by academic advisors andcounselors to determine course selection in postsecondary education.
Student scores on college entrance exams – the SATor ACT – are now part of Idaho’s new Five-Star Rating System. This is onemeasure the state uses to evaluate how Idaho schools are preparing students forpostsecondary education and the workforce.
Note: Please be careful in reading the data on Idaho SAT School Day versus national results that arereleased for the ACT and SAT. The Idaho SAT School Day data measures theresults of nearly all high school juniors taking the SAT paid for by the state.The national results for the ACT and SAT measures the results of a cohort ofstudents (sophomores, juniors and seniors) graduating in a certain year whoselected to take the SAT or ACT, not paid for by the state. Therefore, thesedata points cannot be directly compared.
Here ismore on the national ACT and SAT results for your information:
·        NationalACT results were published August 22, 2012. These results reflect students inthe Class of 2012 who chose to take the ACT, which is not paid for by thestate. According to this data, 11,842 students in the Class of 2012 took theACT at some point during their high school career. Of those taking the ACT, 26percent met all four ACT college readiness benchmarks, slightly above thenational average. The full report is available online at http://www.act.org/newsroom/data/2012/states/idaho.html.
·        NationalSAT results will be released in September for the Class of 2012. These resultswill be for the senior cohort graduating in 2012 and will not include highschool juniors in the Class of 2013 who took the SAT as part of the Idaho’sfirst-ever SAT School Day. These results will only show scores for Idahostudents who chose to take the SAT as seniors in 2012, as juniors in 2011, andas sophomores in 2010, which was not paid for by the state. Therefore, thesescores will differ from the scores reported for Idaho SAT School Day.