Reaping the Rewards Of Solid SAT Study

Hylton Scores Well Above County Average

Amy Weiler, an assistant principal at C.D. Hylton High School in Woodbridge, has noticed a reassuring statistic when she evaluates the impact of SAT classes and workshops at her school.

Average scores have risen, by fairly large margins, among a certain group of students, she said. The average score among "actively involved" SAT review students at Hylton has climbed to 1750, well above the Prince William County average of 1486.

Updated SAT scores for the Class of 2008 will be released later this year, and Weiler's eagerness to see the new data hardly contains the dread of an educator in a school system beset by chronically low scores.

"I can't wait to see what our scores have done," she said. "I am anticipating a huge gain for Hylton."

Raising Prince William's SAT scores, which are the lowest among major Northern Virginia districts, is a top priority for the School Board and schools Superintendent Steven L. Walts. Free SAT reviews and paid PSAT exams have been offered in recent years. And a task force of high-level school officials has been convened to examine better realignments of courses with the SAT and how classes in main subject areas can offer more opportunities for nonfiction reading and critical writing, important skills for those taking the SAT.

At Hylton, Weiler said, the Saturday courses -- offered twice a month, in the two months before the exam -- are hugely popular and effective. The school used to have a half-credit SAT course but dropped it because it was difficult to attract enough students, who are juggling other electives and tough Advanced Placement courses.

When the invitation to sign up on Saturdays came out, the response was enormous.

"We had over 130 kids sign up," Weiler said. "Many kids just go to Barnes and Noble and buy the $15.95 book, and they won't work out of it because it's too boring. So we were really tasked with: 'What can we do differently to interest the kids'?"

Weiler said Hylton has also adjusted when students take Algebra II, a subject on the SAT. The school, she said, took many juniors out of geometry and put them in Algebra II. The teachers figured out which SAT skills should be incorporated into regular courses, such as how to annotate passages and read more nonfiction essays in the arts and history, she said.

One new strategy at Hylton: asking the students in television classes to quiz students -- and teachers -- about difficult SAT words for their morning segments. "It's hilarious. The students asked our English teacher the definition of a word that was derived from the French," Weiler said. "He didn't know and tried to play it off, and the kids loved it. When they see it on the television, they'll remember it."

As a county, Prince William has not fared as well as its counterparts, but school officials said the statistical significance in the county's performance compared with that of its competitors is slim. Here's how Northern Virginia's major districts fared from the 2005-06 to 2006-07 academic years: Arlington County's average score increased three points to 1623; Fairfax County's declined by four to 1639; Loudoun County's score of 1560 went down by one; and Prince William's average score of 1486 plummeted 18 points.

Prince William school officials said it is difficult to know why the decline was so steep. Ken Bassett, the school system's social studies supervisor and a member of an SAT task force review group, wondered what types of students were taking the exam. "Are we testing a much broader portion of students than other school systems? Of the students who took the SAT, what percentage are first-time college-goers from their families?" he asked. "I'm hopeful some of the things we've done will help increase scores."

One factor for the decline could have been the increase in the participation rate: 68 percent in 2006-07, compared with 61 percent the year before, according to the school system.

Bassett pointed to several weekend workshops at the high schools and a regulation instituted last year that required all students to register for online SAT review. He singled out Hylton as a role model for other schools.

"The administration there has really made improvements, and they have some real crackerjack language arts teachers over there," he said.