SAT Scores Drop in FCPS

[Anonymous]

Test optional has made a surprising number of my students skip taking the test (or not worry about it and take it "just to see"). 10 years ago kids would prep intensely, but i rarely see that now.

I realize that's not unique to FCPS, but it's an interesting variable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Test optional has made a surprising number of my students skip taking the test (or not worry about it and take it "just to see"). 10 years ago kids would prep intensely, but i rarely see that now.

I realize that's not unique to FCPS, but it's an interesting variable.

I've wondered if that would happen. TBH, that sounds great. Prepping for the SAT shouldn't even be a thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Test optional has made a surprising number of my students skip taking the test (or not worry about it and take it "just to see"). 10 years ago kids would prep intensely, but i rarely see that now.

I realize that's not unique to FCPS, but it's an interesting variable.

I've wondered if that would happen. TBH, that sounds great. Prepping for the SAT shouldn't even be a thing.

And yet scores are improving elsewhere and declining in FCPS. It seems the curse of low expectations is alive and well in FCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Test optional has made a surprising number of my students skip taking the test (or not worry about it and take it "just to see"). 10 years ago kids would prep intensely, but i rarely see that now.

I realize that's not unique to FCPS, but it's an interesting variable.

I've wondered if that would happen. TBH, that sounds great. Prepping for the SAT shouldn't even be a thing.

+100
It's a GOOD outcome if kids are less focused on the SAT/ACT.

[Anonymous]

Anyone know what the average ACT score for FCPS is?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Test optional has made a surprising number of my students skip taking the test (or not worry about it and take it "just to see"). 10 years ago kids would prep intensely, but i rarely see that now.

I realize that's not unique to FCPS, but it's an interesting variable.

I've wondered if that would happen. TBH, that sounds great. Prepping for the SAT shouldn't even be a thing.

+100
It's a GOOD outcome if kids are less focused on the SAT/ACT.

And so the dumbing down continues. Soon the only aptitude that will matter is the facility with which one can lay claim to membership in some oppressed group.

[Anonymous]

How many threads about the SB, the decline of FCPS, the evil superintendent can this forum have? Go private, home school. Stop complaining unless you actually have something useful to add. How long before someone else chimes in on this post about the libs and CRT? This forum has become such a dumpster fire. And by the way, FCPS might have declining test scores due to changes in demographics. I don’t know. It’s almost like SAT scores are related to SES vs strictly quality of education and smarts. Go figure!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How many threads about the SB, the decline of FCPS, the evil superintendent can this forum have? Go private, home school. Stop complaining unless you actually have something useful to add. How long before someone else chimes in on this post about the libs and CRT? This forum has become such a dumpster fire. And by the way, FCPS might have declining test scores due to changes in demographics. I don’t know. It’s almost like SAT scores are related to SES vs strictly quality of education and smarts. Go figure!

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Test optional has made a surprising number of my students skip taking the test (or not worry about it and take it "just to see"). 10 years ago kids would prep intensely, but i rarely see that now.

I realize that's not unique to FCPS, but it's an interesting variable.

I've wondered if that would happen. TBH, that sounds great. Prepping for the SAT shouldn't even be a thing.

+100
It's a GOOD outcome if kids are less focused on the SAT/ACT.

I disagree.

As a former very poor yet very smart kkd, SATs and ACTs are a fantastic way to lift kids up above their circumstances, and to open doors and opportunities to poor, disadvantaged, rural and urban working class kids that they never would have dreamed possible.

It does a tremendous disservice to poor, minority, and working class kids to move away from the use of SATs and ACTs in college admissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Test optional has made a surprising number of my students skip taking the test (or not worry about it and take it "just to see"). 10 years ago kids would prep intensely, but i rarely see that now.

I realize that's not unique to FCPS, but it's an interesting variable.

I've wondered if that would happen. TBH, that sounds great. Prepping for the SAT shouldn't even be a thing.

+100
It's a GOOD outcome if kids are less focused on the SAT/ACT.

I disagree.

As a former very poor yet very smart kkd, SATs and ACTs are a fantastic way to lift kids up above their circumstances, and to open doors and opportunities to poor, disadvantaged, rural and urban working class kids that they never would have dreamed possible.

It does a tremendous disservice to poor, minority, and working class kids to move away from the use of SATs and ACTs in college admissions.

Well said.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How many threads about the SB, the decline of FCPS, the evil superintendent can this forum have? Go private, home school. Stop complaining unless you actually have something useful to add. How long before someone else chimes in on this post about the libs and CRT? This forum has become such a dumpster fire. And by the way, FCPS might have declining test scores due to changes in demographics. I don’t know. It’s almost like SAT scores are related to SES vs strictly quality of education and smarts. Go figure!

+1. It’s so transparently political.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How many threads about the SB, the decline of FCPS, the evil superintendent can this forum have? Go private, home school. Stop complaining unless you actually have something useful to add. How long before someone else chimes in on this post about the libs and CRT? This forum has become such a dumpster fire. And by the way, FCPS might have declining test scores due to changes in demographics. I don’t know. It’s almost like SAT scores are related to SES vs strictly quality of education and smarts. Go figure!

Really? You think the Black, Hispanic, and White kids in the county are all lower SES now than they were a few years ago? That would raise its own questions about the direction the county is taking under its current leadership, but it doesn’t seem especially plausible. School officials are always happy to blame FCPS’s woes on economic determinism, though, rather than own up to their own failures.

And Brabrand isn’t evil, just not up to the task of running one of the nation’s largest school systems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm confused, OP. Are you sure?

I looked up an old post of scores from December 2019:

TJ 1530
Langley 1330
McLean 1305
Madison 1277
Oakton 1274
Woodson 1260
Chantilly 1253
Marshall 1246
Centreville 1222
FCPS AVERAGE 1218
Lake Braddock 1210
Fairfax 1208
West Springfield 1202
Robinson 1195
Westfield 1195
South Lakes 1194
South County 1187
Herndon 1176
Falls Church 1158
Hayfield 1138
Edison 1131
West Potomac 1126
VIRGINIA AVERAGE 1119
Annandale 1112
Lee 1095
Justice 1084
US AVERAGE 1059
Mount Vernon 1048

Those are scores from the Class of 2019 two years ago (I fixed a typo above about the FCPS average for that class, which was 1218, not 1208).

And now the average is down to 1201, and they don't even release the scores for individual schools because they don't want you to know which ones are now below the state and national average. It's almost surely more than four below the state average now.

I've doublechecked the math and the FCPS average in 2019 was 1206.

How about comparing your math to FCPS's? This was their report, said 1218.
https://www.fcps.edu/news/sat-scores-fcps-students-continue-exceed-state-and-national-averages

Yes, using their reported numbers for the schools, it was 1206.

PP, see bolded above. Your "math" includes the FCPS average, VA average, and National average. You forgot to take those out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm confused, OP. Are you sure?

I looked up an old post of scores from December 2019:

TJ 1530
Langley 1330
McLean 1305
Madison 1277
Oakton 1274
Woodson 1260
Chantilly 1253
Marshall 1246
Centreville 1222
FCPS AVERAGE 1218
Lake Braddock 1210
Fairfax 1208
West Springfield 1202
Robinson 1195
Westfield 1195
South Lakes 1194
South County 1187
Herndon 1176
Falls Church 1158
Hayfield 1138
Edison 1131
West Potomac 1126
VIRGINIA AVERAGE 1119
Annandale 1112
Lee 1095
Justice 1084
US AVERAGE 1059
Mount Vernon 1048

Those are scores from the Class of 2019 two years ago (I fixed a typo above about the FCPS average for that class, which was 1218, not 1208).

And now the average is down to 1201, and they don't even release the scores for individual schools because they don't want you to know which ones are now below the state and national average. It's almost surely more than four below the state average now.

I've doublechecked the math and the FCPS average in 2019 was 1206.

How about comparing your math to FCPS's? This was their report, said 1218.
https://www.fcps.edu/news/sat-scores-fcps-students-continue-exceed-state-and-national-averages

Yes, using their reported numbers for the schools, it was 1206.

PP, see bolded above. Your "math" includes the FCPS average, VA average, and National average. You forgot to take those out.

Taking those out is not sufficient, you also need to weight by the number of test takers at each school each year if you want a combined average... AND you need to adjust for any relative bias in the set of test-takers year-over-year (both in FCPS and for the other averages)... none of this is information that we have publicly available.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Test optional has made a surprising number of my students skip taking the test (or not worry about it and take it "just to see"). 10 years ago kids would prep intensely, but i rarely see that now.

I realize that's not unique to FCPS, but it's an interesting variable.

I've wondered if that would happen. TBH, that sounds great. Prepping for the SAT shouldn't even be a thing.

+100
It's a GOOD outcome if kids are less focused on the SAT/ACT.

And so the dumbing down continues. Soon the only aptitude that will matter is the facility with which one can lay claim to membership in some oppressed group.

I agree with you that White Christians are the most oppressed group.