Submitted by North Thurston Public Schools
North Thurston students recently showed impressive growth on the SAT, the standardized test for college admission.
“It’s really a trend in the right direction, and demonstrates more of our students are better prepared for a 4-year university or college,” said Dr. Phil Dommes, Director of Student Assessment.
The success appeared to be across the board, with increases in Reading and Writing, plus a 15 point jump in Math. The district has made math a district goal for the last three years, with a focus on professional development, cooperative learning, peer tutoring and strategic and intensive curriculum. While still slightly under the state average scores, the SAT growth in North Thurston over the last five years surpassed the state rate of growth.
“What the data shows us is that more of our students are taking the SAT and doing better on the test overall,” said Troy Oliver, Executive Director of Secondary Education.
In an effort to encourage more students to take the test and consider college as an option, the district is offering to cover the administrative cost of the PSAT/NMSQT (the SAT pre-test) to those sophomores who want to take it this fall.
Two North Thurston High School students who took the PSAT last year were recently named National Merit semifinalists. Only five students in the county received the honor among 16,000 in the country! Congratulations to Emily Henderson and Annika Veis.
