Over the course of the past three years, scores for Warsaw Community High School juniors who have taken the PSAT improved in writing and math, but declined in reading.
During the Warsaw School Board meeting Monday night, Chief Accountability Officer Tom Kline gave a presentation on the PSAT results for the classes of 2008, 2009 and 2010.
The PSAT test is co-sponsored by the College Board and National Merit Scholarship Corp. It's a standardized test that provides firsthand practice for the SAT. It also gives students a chance to enter National Merit Scholarship Corp. scholarship programs and gain access to college and career-planning tools, Kline said. The PSAT measures critical reading skills, math problem-solving skills and writing skills.
Generally, Kline said, the PSAT is taken during the fall of the junior year by students who want to attend college. It also may be taken during a student's sophomore year.
Each of the three sections of the PSAT is scored on a scale of 20 to 80 points, which add up to a maximum composite score of 240 points. Kline said this parallels the SAT®, which is graded on a scale of 200 to 800 and has a maximum composite score of 2400.
There were 364 members of the WCHS class of 2008 who took the PSAT during their junior year. The average reading score was 45.12, math was 46.94 and writing was 42.78. The average composite was 134.84 points out of a possible 240.
For the class of 2009, 406 students took the PSAT during their junior year. The average scores for that class were 44.41 in reading, 46.51 in math and 42.77 in writing, resulting in an average composite score of 133.69.
Four hundred members of the class of 2010 took the PSAT during their junior year. Their average scores were 43.13 in reading, 47.12 in math and 45.45 in writing. Their average composite score was 135.70.
In fall 2008, Kline said, 109 WCHS sophomore honor students from the class of 2011 took the PSAT. In fall 2009, their mean test scores were ranked against the sophomores who took the PSAT in 388 high schools across Indiana.
In writing, the WCHS class of 2011 placed 10th with a writing mean of 50.6. First went to West Lafayette Junior-Senior High School with a writing mean of 52.2. Manchester High School was second with 52.1, while NorthWood was fourth with 51.8.
In math, the WCHS class of 2011 placed fourth with a math mean of 57.2. First went to Valparaiso High School with a mean math score of 58.6.
WCHS class of 2011 was first in the state in reading with a mean reading score of 53.4. Manchester High School placed eighth with a reading mean score of 51.5.
As for the Indiana Top 10 PSAT composite scores for the class of 2011, WCHS placed fourth with a score of 158.3 out of 240 possible points. Valparaiso High School was first with 162.9, and West Lafayette Junior-Senior High School was second with 162.4. Manchester High School was seventh with 156.8.
School Board Vice President Dan Robinson said the reading score for the class of 2011 was first in the state, but from 2008 to 2010 the class reading score averages dropped. Robinson asked why Kline thought that had occurred.
Kline suggested that Warsaw Community Schools had implemented silent reading time for Warsaw students when the students of the class of 2011 were just young students, which may have helped students with their reading. However, the class of 2011 is only one year away from the class of 2010, so he couldn't say for certain if that was the reason or only reason.
Kline also named students who have been successful on the PSAT.
In 2007, Kaveh Akbar and Kayla Durcholz were National Merit Finalists. In 2008, Christopher Hamman and Bebhinn Priest were finalists, as well as David Hudson in 2009 and Miles Wynn in 2010. Honorable mentions in 2009 included Amy Green and Jared Highlen. Celeste Harris was a 2010 National Achievement Finalist.
