Why are fewer students in the Wake school system taking the SAT than before?
As noted in today's article, school officials think it's the recession causing fewer students to go to a four-year college where an SAT score would be needed.
Asst. Supt. David Holdzkom said the district's survey of seniors found more are now saying they plan to attend a community college, join the military or go directly into the workforce.
The decline in the SAT participation rate is a concern for school officials that's noted in a district report. In the report, Holdzkom calls the drop "troublesome" and urges principals, teachers and counselors to monitor the situation.
The extent of the drop depends on who you look at.
The state report says the participation rate among Wake seniors has dropped from 79.8 percent in 2007 to 67.1 percent this year. In the district's report, the participation rate is listed at 64 percent.
At 64 percent, Wake would barely be above the state average of 63 percent.
It's not just a case of the percentage dropping. Despite Wake's growth, fewer seniors are taking the SAT now than before.
Fewer public school students are taking the SAT statewide.
In 2009 45,376 North Carolina public school students took the test compared to 48,054 the prior year. It took a spike among private school students to increase the number of N.C. test takers.
Click here for the district analysis of the SAT results, which includes breakdowns in performance by racial and ethnic groups. Holdzkom said he's pleased by the 5-year trends among different groups.
Comments
Why take it?
Thu, 08/27/2009 - 12:33 — user12345http://www.ibiblio.org/newsdesk/apples/sp09/voices/latinos-high-school-g...
Carrboro, N.C.- Like many Latino youth in North Carolina, Mariana Gasca, 18, dropped out of high school last year. Bored with school and lured by a job waiting tables, she left Carrboro High School during her sophomore year. In 2008, just 56.2 percent of Latino students graduated within four years of entering high school, according to the state’s Department of Public Instruction.
Many Factors Cause Dropping Out - A variety of reasons, including legal status, outside employment, family obligations, and academic challenges cause Latino students to disproportionately dropout, several North Carolina educators said, while drawing distinctions between immigrant and non-immigrant Latinos.
“For the Latino kids, what I see is a lot of them are undocumented and they just want to work,” Ms. Crider said. “With a high school diploma, it’s not really going to change their life that much, because they can’t go to community college.”
“It’s been frustrating, because there aren’t a lot of options open to undocumented students,” said Ms. Eliot. “They can’t really go on to a higher level of education.” Even if they did, she said, it would be hard for them to obtain jobs befitting a bachelor’s degree.
Family obligations can also be an impediment to Latino students graduating from high school. “One student had to help with the family business,” said Ms. Eliot. “If young children were sick, she had to miss school.” Eventually, the student dropped out of high school.
“Many families have a tremendous work ethic and an old world view of work,” said Paul Caudros, a professor at the U. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, of Latino students and dropout rates. People in Mexico often end school after the sixth grade, he added, so such families may not see the need for their children to finish high school.
“Low expectations by teachers, feelings of alienation, disruption in their homes, all these factors can contribute to [non-immigrant Latinos] dropping out,” said Mr. Cuadros.
These huge class sizes and
Wed, 08/26/2009 - 22:30 — momof2goodboysThese huge class sizes and few electives to keep kids interested in school are really not going to help either! If the board would care half as much about the welfare of the students as they do everything else, maybe this wouldn't be so. October 6th....... VOTE!
No surprise
Wed, 08/26/2009 - 06:48 — woodstockThis is hardly surprising. We've lost our focus on education. In Wake, for example, our BoE does not even have education as its first priority. They value a statistical creation they call "healthy schools" and busing for "diversity" over the academic success of individual students. In this odd and extraordinarily ineffective pursuit, many students are left in the dust and never graduate at all, much less have any desire to take the SAT test. Economically disadvantaged students and black males graduate at barely above a 50% rate in Wake...and it is not getting better. Find a solution to this challenge and the number of students taking the SAT and doing well on them will skyrocket.
It is clear that Wake's status quo BoE candidates have no interest in finding solutions. They are committed to continuing existing falied policies. WSCA-endorsed candidates Malone, Prickett, Goldman, and Tedesco feel otherwise and will work to support family-friendly school and ecademic success for all students.