Release Date: Sep 14, 2011 11:11 AM  

---Class of 2011 report released today also shows increase in participation, diversity--

Detailed reports on spring SAT results released to schools will help Delaware educators identify content strengths and weakness among their students. The advanced reporting – a first for Delaware -- is the result of the state’s Universal SAT program. In April, the state funded a school-day administration of the college readiness exam to every public school 11th grader in the state.

The analysis being given to schools will provide educators not just their students’ raw scores but detailed reports that show how their student bodies performed in critical areas within the reading, writing and math portions of the exam. For example, educators drilling into their data may find that a high percentage of their students struggled with author’s craft questions in the critical reading portion of the exam or excelled on geometry and measurement questions in the math section.

“For educators, this is a data jackpot. This is critical information that will inform principals and teachers so they can adjust instruction to ensure students are graduating ready to succeed in college and careers,” Secretary of Education Lillian M. Lowery said. “The state’s data coaches will work side-by-side with teachers to help them understand and use this data to meet student needs.”
In April, for the first time, the state paid for every public school junior to take the exam during the regular school day. This initiative to improve college and career readiness was funded by the state’s $119 million Race to the Top plan. When Delaware applied for the competitive federal Race to the Top grant program, the state committed to administering a college readiness exam to all 11th graders. About 93 percent of the students (7,583) took the exam. The prior year, 36 percent of 11th graders (3,174 students) took the SAT. Delaware is the only state delivering the test in this way.
Today, the College Board, which administers the SAT, released state reports. For Delaware, the reports cover two distinct student populations. In addition to covering the Universal SAT results for the Class of 2012, the College Board’s annual state report looks at the participation of the prior year’s graduating class, in this case the Class of 2011. This report includes public and private school Class of 2011 students who chose to take the SAT.
CLASS OF 2011 REPORT
The Class of 2011 results show that prior to the Universal SAT program, Delaware was making gains in student participation. More students in the Delaware high school graduating Class of 2011 (public and private) took the SAT (7,092) than any other class in state history. Five years ago, 4,394 in the Class of 2007 took the exam. The 2011 class also was the most diverse in Delaware history. Of the state’s 2011 college-bound seniors who took the SAT, 36 percent were minority students, up from 35 percent in 2010 and 30 percent in 2007.

It is common for mean scores to decline slightly when the number of students taking an exam increases because more students of varied academic backgrounds are represented in the test-taking pool. However, a decline in mean scores does not necessarily mean a decline in performance.There are more high-performing students among the class of 2011 than ever before. A perfect score on the test is 2400 (800 in each of the three subject tests).

	Delaware mean scores
	Critical Reading	Math	Writing
2007	495	494	484
2010	492	494	480
2011	489	490	476

UNIVERSAL SAT REPORT
Because of the Universal SAT program, Delaware this year also has results on how public school students in the Class of 2012 fared on the exam, administered during the school day in the spring of their junior year.
Under the Universal SAT program, the state expected that with a significant increase in the number of students taking the test, some of whom are not preparing for college at this time, the average SAT scores likely would decline compared to the previous year’s scores. Because of the significant change in the size and population of the test-takers, the state recognized it would not be possible to compare the school-day administration results for the public school Class of 2012 to the more selective statewide Class of 2011 results.
For the Class of 2012’s school day Universal SAT administration, the state mean scores for the 7,583 juniors (93 percent of public school 11th graders) who took the exam were:

Critical reading	436
Mathematics	449
Writing	427

Providing the SAT to all public school 11th graders is part of Delaware’s larger strategy to improve college and career readiness among all Delaware students. The state also expects that enabling students to take the exam during a regular school day at their own high school will increase the number of students who are likely to apply to college because it eliminates a number of barriers to traditional testing, including the cost of registration, lack of transportation to the test center, unfamiliarity with the test and how to prepare, and conflicts with job or family responsibilities.
*Note about public school participation and mean scores: A number of factors can contribute to yearly fluctuations in public school participation levels and mean scores, including a state’s efforts to foster a college-going culture, the academic preparedness of students taking the SAT®, and changes in student behavior when completing the SAT Questionnaire. Public school participation levels are calculated based on optional, self-reported data students provide when completing the SAT Questionnaire during registration. Unanticipated increases or decreases in the number of students providing their high school’s unique code can influence year-over-year differences in public school participation and influence mean scores. A decline in the number of students providing their high school’s unique code among the classes of 2009 and 2010 resulted in a decline in reported public school participation for those years. The College Board carefully monitors changes in student data and has enhanced the registration process to encourage more students to report school affiliation. As a result, the percentage of students reported by school type in the class of 2011 has increased. As with any data, the College Board recommends looking at public school mean score trends over time rather than in one-year increments that tend to overemphasize any changes. Trends over a longer period of time, in this case 2007–2011, will give a more accurate picture of both student participation and mean scores.

**SAT Cohort Data:
The College-Bound Seniors cohort traditionally included students who tested through March of their senior year.  However, the College Board has observed a trend in which more students are taking the SAT for the first time in May or June of their senior year.  Beginning with the class of 2011, College-Bound Seniors cohort data reflect all students in a graduating class who took the SAT at least once through June of their senior year. For comparative purposes, College-Bound Seniors data for the 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 cohorts have been recalculated to include all students who tested through June of their senior year.  

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Delaware's Department of Education is committed to promoting the highest quality education for every Delaware student by providing visionary leadership and superior service.	Contact Info. Alison Kepner Delaware Department of Education 401 Federal Street, Suite #2 Dover, Delaware 19901 Phone: (302) 735-4035 Fax: (302) 739-4654 Email: akepner@doe.k12.de.us
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