This morning we learned that SAT scores in our fair county of Lancaster are down. Here is the story:
This story is confusing at best. The paper starts by giving a sense of vertigo concerning SAT performance. The truth is that for all meaningful purposes—like kids getting into college—the scores were flat: plus 1 verbal, no change in math; minus 6 in writing. The truth is, as I pointed out on an earlier post, that the writing section of the SAT is not really taken into account by anyone. It is a bit of a joke. At a recent meeting with representatives of the military academies, all gave scores based on the old 1600 point scale. So scores were flat.
The real story is in the details. It is not mentioned, but you can see it in this grid:
The real story is that only 41% of the McCaskey district even took the test, only 35% of Columbia took the test. This means that 59% and 65% of these districts have an education that makes taking this test unnecessary—i.e., they are so far from going to college that it is pointless to have them take the test. Again, this is an educational apocalypse occurring under our noses and no one at the paper comments on it. How can we as Christians let the kids in districts have the doors of the future closed so soon. We will pay and we are paying.
On the brighter side for the McCaskey district, they have a new principal at McCaskey East, Bill Jimenez. He is an ex-Marine and might be the man for the job. Keep him in your prayers. I have heard many good things.
Also, note that Solanco and Lampeter-Strasburg juiced their scores by having far fewer of their students take the test. The paper only notes—“Lampeter-Strasburg also moved up, from ninth to fourth, thanks to a 45-point boost in its average score.” This misses the point. Why did LS finish 4th? I am betting that it is because 39% fewer students took the test there.
