Banneker SAT averages: 494 Math; 502 Reading

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well I am a black woman who scored extremely high on the SAT and LSAT -- high enough to get me an Ivy education and law degree. My siblings also scored very high on every standardized test they took. Are we freaks? No. We just have parents who are SERIOUS about education. Banneker's scores are very disappointing for DC's only test-in school. One explanation is that the privates skim the best students off the top.

+100. Good for you. I, too, scored high on the SAT and GRE although I was to become the sole Ivy Leaguer of my public high school class. My siblings, who attended the same school, went to Harvard. We had some fine teachers, particularly math teachers, and parents who restricted our TV viewing. We read a lot, making lists of vocabulary words we didn't know as we went for years before we hit the SAT. We looked up the words, and studied definitions, as our test prep.

Utter nonsense that an "elite" test-in school where SAT scores hover around the national average is serving its students well. I've interviewed Banneker valedictorians applying to my Ivy who were so far out of their league that they needn't have bothered. Disaster, source of shame.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are a lot of cultural reasons why the SAT does not represent AA kids well, but I think one of the primary ones is that very often they receive by liberals too much of a focus on "multicultural lit" rather than other material that would be more rigorous. Fundamentally those in power and that create the exam still are based on European cultural and textual norms and it is a lot more difficult for kids not in this milieu to score well. Don't get me wrong, the same issue applies to poor white kids in Appalachia or Hispanic kids in the southwest. I know having gone to a primarily Hispanic school growing up we did far less rigorous literature than my peers in the burbs because it was not considered culturally important to my peers. Well meaning, but pointless if you ask me, if you want to participate with those in power, you have to know what they know.

So a kid can read a good newspaper at a library almost every day. Isn't this the information age? Cultural reasons my foot. Overall, AA parents simply don't value education as much as other groups. I say this as an AA who married an Asian. My parents, and his parents, valued education highly and taught us to take responsibility for our own, althougn neither family had much money. I read a huge amount at a local public library. Foster a love of learning and multicultural lit is no obstacle.

[Anonymous]

+1. SAT scores in DCPS schools are nothing to brag about across the board. SWW & Banneker do OK, but they are among the weakest test-in schools in the nation. Look at the stats on Newsweek's "Best American High Schools" list if you doubt this.

I'm a Russian immigrant who arrived at age 12 yet scored 720 no the verbal section of the SAT, 790 on the math, in a struggling urban public school. Very few of my American classmates seemed to read classics for pleasure, as many high school students do in Russia. Kids who don't read quality literature for fun on a regular basis invariably don't do very well on the SAT verbal section. Teachers and test prep can only do so much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:+1. SAT scores in DCPS schools are nothing to brag about across the board. SWW & Banneker do OK, but they are among the weakest test-in schools in the nation. Look at the stats on Newsweek's "Best American High Schools" list if you doubt this.

I'm a Russian immigrant who arrived at age 12 yet scored 720 no the verbal section of the SAT, 790 on the math, in a struggling urban public school. Very few of my American classmates seemed to read classics for pleasure, as many high school students do in Russia. Kids who don't read quality literature for fun on a regular basis invariably don't do very well on the SAT verbal section. Teachers and test prep can only do so much.

The bolded statement is not true in my experience. I loved reading for fun but my brother who never read a book (use to makeup book reports on books that did not exist!) only magazines went to Johns Hopkins at 14, scored 650 verbal and 790 math when he was 12 yrs old. Asian immigrants - our parents never really emphasized reading books, let us watch hours and hours of TV, never did enrichment activities and we could do whatever as long as we brought home As which is true for most Asian families I know. The rest of my sibs and I all attended Ivies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well I am a black woman who scored extremely high on the SAT and LSAT -- high enough to get me an Ivy education and law degree. My siblings also scored very high on every standardized test they took. Are we freaks? No. We just have parents who are SERIOUS about education. Banneker's scores are very disappointing for DC's only test-in school. One explanation is that the privates skim the best students off the top.

+100. Good for you. I, too, scored high on the SAT and GRE although I was to become the sole Ivy Leaguer of my public high school class. My siblings, who attended the same school, went to Harvard. We had some fine teachers, particularly math teachers, and parents who restricted our TV viewing. We read a lot, making lists of vocabulary words we didn't know as we went for years before we hit the SAT. We looked up the words, and studied definitions, as our test prep.

Utter nonsense that an "elite" test-in school where SAT scores hover around the national average is serving its students well. I've interviewed Banneker valedictorians applying to my Ivy who were so far out of their league that they needn't have bothered. Disaster, source of shame.

I personally know a few Banneker grads who went on to excellent colleges -Ivy included- and graduate schools and have successful careers as physicians, lawyers etc. These people are all in their 30s. I've never bothered to ask them their test scores (seriously, does that matter 20 years out of high school?) Has the school gone downhill since the 90s or have they never put an emphasis on standardized testing - does anyone here know?

[Anonymous]

So where do recent students go to college with those SAT scores? Do they publish a list?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well I am a black woman who scored extremely high on the SAT and LSAT -- high enough to get me an Ivy education and law degree. My siblings also scored very high on every standardized test they took. Are we freaks? No. We just have parents who are SERIOUS about education. Banneker's scores are very disappointing for DC's only test-in school. One explanation is that the privates skim the best students off the top.

Well good for you. I am an AA woman who scored horribly on the SAT and LSAT. I still graduated in the top 10 percent of my 1st tier law school class. Your point? My parents were very serious about education, but they were not educated. My son attends Banneker. We can afford to send him to any private school in the area. I could write a book about how amazing Banneker has been for our son. You could not get a more committed staff anywhere! Banneker is not DCs only test in school. They actually don't test at all. The application is based on essays, grades and teacher's recommendations. SWW is test in.

Banneker takes kids from across the city. Clearly kids coming from Wards 5,7 and 8 are not as strong, but they are smart. Do you just turn your back on them? Based on your comments, I bet you would!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well I am a black woman who scored extremely high on the SAT and LSAT -- high enough to get me an Ivy education and law degree. My siblings also scored very high on every standardized test they took. Are we freaks? No. We just have parents who are SERIOUS about education. Banneker's scores are very disappointing for DC's only test-in school. One explanation is that the privates skim the best students off the top.

+100. Good for you. I, too, scored high on the SAT and GRE although I was to become the sole Ivy Leaguer of my public high school class. My siblings, who attended the same school, went to Harvard. We had some fine teachers, particularly math teachers, and parents who restricted our TV viewing. We read a lot, making lists of vocabulary words we didn't know as we went for years before we hit the SAT. We looked up the words, and studied definitions, as our test prep.

Utter nonsense that an "elite" test-in school where SAT scores hover around the national average is serving its students well. I've interviewed Banneker valedictorians applying to my Ivy who were so far out of their league that they needn't have bothered. Disaster, source of shame.

How in the hell do you know that when we know that SAT scores and income are directly related? The SATs don't judge intelligence. It's a test. That's why some really good liberal arts colleges no longer take them. Sure, you meet Banneker kids who are really smart, but are not culturally sophisticated. They are products of their environment. They also have homeless students. I am sure those students will not impress you when you interview them. They may not have the social skills that you are accustomed to experiencing. Do you write them off because they are not polished? I am a lawyer and my husband is an executive. My kids are going to present differently than a kid who is a first generation college graduate and who's father works at WASA.

I'm sorry that I don't have a stick up my ass so far it's coming out of my ears and that I am able to pass judgement on others who don't live in the gold coast and have college degrees. This is DC. I've seen many people climb and get there heads in the clouds and then watch them fall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So where do recent students go to college with those SAT scores? Do they publish a list?

I know a young lady who went to Brown undergrad and is currently attending UPenn for her MBA - very sharp girl with an impressive resume for her age (around 25). She finished in the top 5 at Banneker. I do not know her specific SAT scores, but from a discussion we had I have the impression her scores were not spectacular.

Of course this is just 1 person, but I have been quite impressed with the handful of young grads I have met in DC that attended Banneker and SWW.

[Anonymous]

Having worked in college and graduate school admissions in the recent past I'm aware that low SES kids with good grades no longer get a big break on SAT scores, as they generally did 20 years ago. They get a small break at top schools, 600s vs. 700s, and that's it. Banneker's test scores don't measure up in 2012.

[Anonymous]

+1. The apologists for mediocre SAT scores on this thread aren't doing the most academic Banneker kids scoring in the 400s and 500s any favors. Yes, there are always going to be a few kids who score low yet excel at top colleges, but, for the most part, this isn't the case. Common sense dictates that high SAT scores mean well-prepared kids. Banneker's average scores are so low for a selective admissions HS that the Johns Hopkins CTY camps, popular with DCUM parents, require higher scores for kids to attend the summer AFTER 7th GRADE. Average scores at School Without Walls are only a tad higher than Banneker's, still in the 1500s. No wonder BASIS has been invited to DC - their original Tuscon and Scottsdale branch average scores are 2000+. Look on the Newsweek Best High Schools list for confirmation.

[Anonymous]

I don't think anyone is making apologies for the mediocre scores. But I bet if there was a way to get the SAT scores for AA kids from Sidwell, Maret, GDS - you would find that they are lower than their peers. I'd love to be proven wrong on this point but I think this issue still remains.

And this thread and others like it remind me that I will not allow my kids to have their college interviews conducted by alums in the DC area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Having worked in college and graduate school admissions in the recent past I'm aware that low SES kids with good grades no longer get a big break on SAT scores, as they generally did 20 years ago. They get a small break at top schools, 600s vs. 700s, and that's it. Banneker's test scores don't measure up in 2012.

Doesn't seem to be hurting them in college admissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:+1. The apologists for mediocre SAT scores on this thread aren't doing the most academic Banneker kids scoring in the 400s and 500s any favors. Yes, there are always going to be a few kids who score low yet excel at top colleges, but, for the most part, this isn't the case. Common sense dictates that high SAT scores mean well-prepared kids. Banneker's average scores are so low for a selective admissions HS that the Johns Hopkins CTY camps, popular with DCUM parents, require higher scores for kids to attend the summer AFTER 7th GRADE. Average scores at School Without Walls are only a tad higher than Banneker's, still in the 1500s. No wonder BASIS has been invited to DC - their original Tuscon and Scottsdale branch average scores are 2000+. Look on the Newsweek Best High Schools list for confirmation.

Your question should be how well are Banneker students doing once they get to college compared to other kids. The answer is that they do extremely well and are well prepared. I see it everyday. I am not apologizing for mediocre scores. I am suggesting that the scores don't mean anything. You are obviously not well read to suggest that high scores indicate a well prepared student. Maybe you need to read a little more and educate yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Study after study has shown that the best thing the SAT demonstrates is income of the parents.