SAT Scores Drop in FCPS

[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.

These days, being poor and minority is valued much higher than an SAT score of 1600. If they are already poor and minority, they don’t need to bother. They’ll be accepted with a score of 1200 over an Asian boy scoring 1600.

DD is a senior, applying to colleges this fall. My mother passed away last month. After the funeral DD was so sad and told me what if we also pass away now, what is she going to do. Then she thought for a second and said: “Oh then I’ll write in my college essay that my parents passed away” - meaning that it would increase her admission chances. That’s what the US college admission system rewards, not the high test scores.

[Anonymous]

It’s a shame SAT scores have declined in FCPS again when they are improving elsewhere, but it’s exactly what you’d expect in a declining school system that keeps finding new ways to incentivize parents who can afford better to send their kids to privates or move to better systems.

[Anonymous]

You should be encouraging your kids to reach 1350 on the SAT. That's the 90% percentile

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FCPS SAT scores for the Class of 2021 averaged 1201, a drop of 10 points from the prior year and almost 20 points down from the Class of 2019.

They don't bother telling you this, or let you know which of their 25 high/secondary schools are now below the state and/or national averages.

FCPS is continuing to decline under Brabrand and this completely inept School Board.

https://www.fcps.edu/news/fairfax-county-sat-outcomes-stay-strong-despite-pandemic-testing-challenges

Why do I care about these numbers? I care about the kids who reside in my home above all else. That's what I can control. I cannot control other kids' scores who, maybe have dipped, are still above nation-wide numbers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You should be encouraging your kids to reach 1350 on the SAT. That's the 90% percentile

Sorry. My kid has topped out at 1150 and we have no plans to continue retaking. It's a waste of time that can be better spent on actual homework and class projects.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS SAT scores for the Class of 2021 averaged 1201, a drop of 10 points from the prior year and almost 20 points down from the Class of 2019.

They don't bother telling you this, or let you know which of their 25 high/secondary schools are now below the state and/or national averages.

FCPS is continuing to decline under Brabrand and this completely inept School Board.

https://www.fcps.edu/news/fairfax-county-sat-outcomes-stay-strong-despite-pandemic-testing-challenges

Why do I care about these numbers? I care about the kids who reside in my home above all else. That's what I can control. I cannot control other kids' scores who, maybe have dipped, are still above nation-wide numbers.

In its press release today about the National Merit Semifinalists from the Class of 2022, FCPS stated that the increase from 212 last year to 214 this year "serves to indicate consistently high levels of academic achievement remain despite the challenges of the pandemic."

When disclosing the SAT scores for the Class of 2021, they didn't indicate whether the continued declines in the overall average over the past two years may suggest the opposite.

[Anonymous]

Students in FCPS in previous years were far more likely to take the SAT multiple times than other less affluent parts of the state. This was less possible during the pandemic where there were many canceled test dates so the gap would likely be higher. Also, far fewer than average students in VA took the SAT during the pandemic, while the average test-takers were down less in FCPS. So these are more about the data than a decline. If you look at percentiles, FCPS is still very high scoring.

At the same time, there might be substantive shifts. The demographics of Fairfax County have been changing with more lower income families than in prior years. SAT scores are highly correlated with SES.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

In its press release today about the National Merit Semifinalists from the Class of 2022, FCPS stated that the increase from 212 last year to 214 this year "serves to indicate consistently high levels of academic achievement remain despite the challenges of the pandemic."

When disclosing the SAT scores for the Class of 2021, they didn't indicate whether the continued declines in the overall average over the past two years may suggest the opposite.

They also didn’t mention that the increase for TJ students was from 132 last year to 144 this year. So if TJ students are excluded from the total numbers, the number of semifinalists in FCPS declined by 10.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

In its press release today about the National Merit Semifinalists from the Class of 2022, FCPS stated that the increase from 212 last year to 214 this year "serves to indicate consistently high levels of academic achievement remain despite the challenges of the pandemic."

When disclosing the SAT scores for the Class of 2021, they didn't indicate whether the continued declines in the overall average over the past two years may suggest the opposite.

They also didn’t mention that the increase for TJ students was from 132 last year to 144 this year. So if TJ students are excluded from the total numbers, the number of semifinalists in FCPS declined by 10.

Why would they need to specifically mention TJ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

In its press release today about the National Merit Semifinalists from the Class of 2022, FCPS stated that the increase from 212 last year to 214 this year "serves to indicate consistently high levels of academic achievement remain despite the challenges of the pandemic."

When disclosing the SAT scores for the Class of 2021, they didn't indicate whether the continued declines in the overall average over the past two years may suggest the opposite.

They also didn’t mention that the increase for TJ students was from 132 last year to 144 this year. So if TJ students are excluded from the total numbers, the number of semifinalists in FCPS declined by 10.

Why would they need to specifically mention TJ?

Because it’s solely responsible for their “increase” in semifinalists - which would have been a decrease of 10 without TJ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

These days, being poor and minority is valued much higher than an SAT score of 1600. If they are already poor and minority, they don’t need to bother. They’ll be accepted with a score of 1200 over an Asian boy scoring 1600.

DD is a senior, applying to colleges this fall. My mother passed away last month. After the funeral DD was so sad and told me what if we also pass away now, what is she going to do. Then she thought for a second and said: “Oh then I’ll write in my college essay that my parents passed away” - meaning that it would increase her admission chances. That’s what the US college admission system rewards, not the high test scores.

Nice that you don't consider asian American kids as minorities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

These days, being poor and minority is valued much higher than an SAT score of 1600. If they are already poor and minority, they don’t need to bother. They’ll be accepted with a score of 1200 over an Asian boy scoring 1600.

DD is a senior, applying to colleges this fall. My mother passed away last month. After the funeral DD was so sad and told me what if we also pass away now, what is she going to do. Then she thought for a second and said: “Oh then I’ll write in my college essay that my parents passed away” - meaning that it would increase her admission chances. That’s what the US college admission system rewards, not the high test scores.

Nice that you don't consider asian American kids as minorities.

It probably wasn't PP that started referring to Asian-American kids as "white adjacent." And we all know that meeting the needs of Asian kids wasn't what this School Board had in mind when it upended TJ admissions this year.

[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.

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

Participation is declining at a greater rate elsewhere and barely at all in FCPS. So "elsewhere" in VA only the top students are taking the test compared to prior years. Please don't make faulty assumptions about numbers and then use it to confirm your biased perspectives. If you're going to call "decline" and give your reasons why, at least have the integrity to carefully understand the data first (which doesn't show what you are suggesting).

[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.

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

Participation is declining at a greater rate elsewhere and barely at all in FCPS. So "elsewhere" in VA only the top students are taking the test compared to prior years. Please don't make faulty assumptions about numbers and then use it to confirm your biased perspectives. If you're going to call "decline" and give your reasons why, at least have the integrity to carefully understand the data first (which doesn't show what you are suggesting).

That may be your hypothesis (and, if true, would seem to raise questions about declining standards at the state level under Ralph Northam and his Secretary of Education), but the decline in SAT scores in FCPS under Brabrand and the current School Board is a fact.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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

Participation is declining at a greater rate elsewhere and barely at all in FCPS. So "elsewhere" in VA only the top students are taking the test compared to prior years. Please don't make faulty assumptions about numbers and then use it to confirm your biased perspectives. If you're going to call "decline" and give your reasons why, at least have the integrity to carefully understand the data first (which doesn't show what you are suggesting).

That may be your hypothesis (and, if true, would seem to raise questions about declining standards at the state level under Ralph Northam and his Secretary of Education), but the decline in SAT scores in FCPS under Brabrand and the current School Board is a fact.

Nationwide there has been a sizeable decline in SAT participation--due to inaccessibility of testing sites during the pandemic and the increasing number of schools that are SAT optional. The students who still opt to take the SAT are stronger students, from wealthier more highly educated backgrounds, with ambitions towards more selective colleges. These are not assumptions but data. FCPS SAT participation didn't decline much however---far less than the national average and VA average, though multiple retakes of the SAT did decline (and multiple retakes allow superscoring where participants put their highest math and highest verbal into one score) compared to years prior.
But, sure, make it about your views about leadership without any connection to a full understanding of data.