By Scott MacKeen
Staff Writer
10/29/09
As has been the case for several years, Milton High School students continue to hover at or slightly above the state average on the SAT exam. However, one School Committee member feels that isn’t good enough for a school system that prides itself on achievement. Commenting on Milton High Principal Dr. John Drottar’s SAT presentation to the committee on Oct. 20, committee member Mary Kelly said it appears the school is “off track” in terms of scoring on the SAT Reasoning Test, the long-standing yardstick test for college admission. “I don’t like that we’re just above the state average, or at the state average [on this year’s SAT test results],” said Kelly. “We should be setting a higher bar.” According to Drottar’s report, Milton High students’ scores have been roughly comparable to state and national averages going back to 2001. This year’s students were slightly above the state and national scores in both the critical reading and writing components of the exam. In the math section, the scores were slightly below the state yet slightly above the national average. “It was not our best year, but it was still a strong year,” said Drottar.
The principal pointed out that 99 percent of Milton High’s graduating class took the exam, which is significantly more than the state average of 75 percent.
“It’s a great sign that we’re getting virtually all of our students to take the test,” he said.
However, School Committee member Beirne Lovely was concerned with the disparity between black and white student test results. The results show that white students scored much higher on each of the three SAT sections. Drottar said it is “the achievement gap issue” that “isn’t a unique situation to Milton.”
“It’s a national situation. Our goal is to get all our students into the most challenging classes we can,” he said.
Lovely said it is an ongoing issue that should be addressed more directly going forward.
“What’s striking to me is the nature of this achievement gap. It’s been steady for nine or 10 years now. The question is, what are we doing to address that issue?” he said.
According to this year’s results, white students averaged 547 in the reading section, 548 in math and 542 in writing. Black students averaged 442 in reading, 449 in math and 431 in writing. The highest score possible for each section is 800.
School Superintendent Mary Gormley said there are programs in place to target students in need of additional instruction, and students are encouraged to enter into more challenging classes – such as Advanced Placement – to ready for the SAT.
“This is a K to 12 issue,” she said. “We’re constantly looking at what we’re doing to address the student subgroups [in need of improvement],” she said.
For example, middle school students who show low MCAS scores are provided a second math or English course rather than another subject, the superintendent said. She said this practice is being expanded to the lower grades this year.
Kelly said the school department should at least consider more radical changes, such as alterations in class scheduling and/or changes to the English and French programs.
“We need to take a hard look at how we’re doing things,” she said.