SAT 10 Sadness

Sandra called up on our first solo weekend for a surprise bit of work. She needed us to compile some data and interpret the results. The kids on island take the SAT (pronounced “sat”) 10 standardized test each year to gauge their grade level equivalency. Since I taught in the system last year, I am aware of how bad the school system is, but it’s always an extra little shock to see the hard numbers. We graphed the results for 4th-8th grade of a private school (which is better off than the public schools) and the data is saddening. Across the board 80-90 percent of the students were way below grade level in each of the different content areas. The problem is that school leaders receive the scores after the test, recognize how poorly the students are performing, and then hide the results out of embarrassment. We need the schools to step up, publicly admit the state of the system, and then actively work to make drastic improvements. Unfortunate that probably won’t happen across the board.