SAT Scores, AP Participation Up in District Schools

Test scores within the Hanover Park Regional School District have been increasing since 2010, according to a presentation by Director of Curriculum Maria C. Carrell.

Carrell's presentation looked at the three major tests which the district administers during the school year: The High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA), the SATs and the AP exams.

The HSPA has three scores available: Partially Proficient (PP), Proficient (P) and Advanced Proficient (AP). Carrell said the goal over past years has been to increase P and AP scores and decrease PP scores.

"If you look at the trend from March 2010 to March 2012, we have done that," she said. "That just shows to you that how we're teaching the curriculum ... is really the gauge of how we're doing as a district, and you can see the fruits of our labor coming out in these test scores."

The district is ranked into a District Factor Group (DFG) based on the socioeconomic status of the towns which make up the district. Hanover Park is in the GH group, one of the top DFGs in the state. Test scores on the HSPA, Carrell said, are near the top of of scores within the GH group and are approaching scores from higher socioeconomic DFGs, known as the I and J groups.

"A J group would be like a Millburn,"  Carrell said by way of example, "and an I group would be like a Summit." These HSPA scores, she said, are "moving more towards I and J groups."

Advanced Placement Exams

Carrell said the district administered 570 Advanced Placement (AP) exams in May 2012, compared to 265 exams in May 2011. "We administered 300 more exams" across 15 subjects, Carrell said, thanks to an increased campaign of awareness and encouragement in getting all students who are in the AP class to take the AP test.

AP exams are scored from 1 to 5, with a score of 3 or higher considered a passing grade which can be used as class credits at college. The percentage of exams with a 3 or higher fell from 84 percent in 2011 to 79 percent in 2012.

"That [kind of dip] typically happens when you increase enrollment and allow for equitable access to the curriculum ... because you're going to have students going into it who wouldn't normally take an AP class and wouldn't normally take an AP test. What we're working on is bringing up that 79 percent."

The district has worked on increasing student participation in AP classes. Superintendent Carol Grossi said she wants to make it easier for students to move out of lower tracks into more challenging classes in the course of their high school careers. The College Board, which sets the curriculum for AP classes, shows the district the PSAT scores and helps them target students with AP potential.

"That way, we hand-select students who might not ordinarily choose an AP course and target them and say, 'You're AP material, and here's why,'" Carrell said.

In the last three years, Grossi said, the district has worked the following goals:

• increase the number of students gaining a 3 or above on AP exams
• increase the number of AP offerings in the 2013-14 year
• increase the number of students enrolled in AP classes
• increase the number of students taking the AP test

"This is what we've done," Grossi said. For example, the district offers AP Pyshocology and Geology, which can be good options for students who are not strong enough to take AP Physics or Chemistry.

The district has also tried to encourage more students in the AP classes to take the tests by exempting them from the final exam if they take the test.

SAT Scores

In the SAT writing exam, Hanover Park in particular saw a jump in average scores from 521 to 534 from 2011 and 2012. The Whippany Park average score stayed about the same, from 533 in 2011 to 531 in 2012, and the national average also stayed relatively static, dropping one point from 489 to 488 in the same time frame.

Scores in the reading exam jumped from 2011 to 2012, from 503 to 518 at Hanover and 523 to 529 at Whippany. The national score of 496 stayed about the same in the same time frame.

In mathetmatics, the average national score stayed at 514 from 2011 to 2012, while Hanover Park increased its average scores from 534 to 544 and Whippany Park went from 555 to 557 in the same time period.

"The SATs are a continual goal we have for both buildings, to continue to infuse SAT [material] into the curriculum," Carrell said. "All of those pushes together will help students be more successful."

Carrell said a push for more challenging coursework and classes throughout the schools helped to increase test scores across all three exams. Grossi added also that the ability for students to move into different tracks rather than staying in the same track for all four years also helped challenge students.

"We were finding that when students were coming into our schools, they were put into a track and they remained there for four years," Grossi said. "They were unable to advocate for themselves. They were stuck there."

Carrell said several tracks were eliminated so students could be joined together and help each other succeed. "We also look at how they advocate for themselves" in determining whether a student should be moved into more challenging courses, she said.