SAT/ACT and AP Exam Scores Are Parents’ Most Valuable Signals of Student Readiness
As 2023 begins and students resume their studies after the holidays, many are looking ahead not only toward earning top grades for the academic year but also toward achieving high scores on their college entrance exams. At the same time, many parents are understandably concerned about how well their students are being prepared for the academic challenges that lie ahead. After all, suspicions remain about the detrimental effects of abridged academic courses and weakened grading standards both during and after the pandemic.
And this skepticism is not unfounded. Math and reading scores on the 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress, a Congressionally mandated project of the U.S. Department of Education, dropped to their lowest levels in decades. While eighth grade reading scores fell a precipitous 3 points, eighth grade math losses were even more disturbing, with scores plummeting by 8 points, the biggest drop on record for the 32-year-old exam, erasing gains made by U.S. students since 2000.
These plunging test scores can have very tangible results going forward. In fact, a recent analysis by Stanford economist Eric A. Hanushek concluded that, unless learning losses are recovered, K-12 students will earn, on average, 5.6% less income over the course of their lives than students educated just prior to the pandemic. The Covid era may be over, but its aftermath is still having negative effects on student academic progress. With all the talk of “getting students back on track,” the reality is for from encouraging.
Although parents might have hoped schools would have initiated plans to make up for student learning deficits, this has unfortunately not been the case. Private as well as public schools have yet to return to their pre-pandemic standards—not only in terms of course content but also in terms of course rigor. Presuming that students experiencing diminished content in previous grades are unprepared to handle normal course content, schools have watered down their curricula and lessened their course requirements. As a result, even the most diligent students are emerging with a weaker foundation of knowledge compared to their pre-pandemic peers.
Increasingly in this atmosphere, the reliability of grades and the GPA as valid indicators of college readiness is being called into question. Now parents are wondering just how much confidence they can place in these traditional measures of student performance.
The good news is that students will rise to the expectations set out before them. They just need someone to level with them by matching those expectations to the academic challenges they will encounter. Notwithstanding relaxed standards still in effect in their children’s schools, parents can rely on two important metrics to ensure their students are prepared to succeed in higher education: SAT/ACT tests and AP Tests.
The SAT and ACT college entrance tests “get behind” the mere “name” of a course and its nominal “grade” on a student’s transcript and measure in a standardized way how prepared the student is to succeed in college-level math, reading and writing.
Not surprisingly. Taking the SAT or ACT often seems a daunting prospect to high school students, and parents and students alike can be apprehensive about where to begin on the road to success on these tests.
If the student is at the point of needing to prepare in earnest for these exams, then the preparation itself can be a vehicle to close-up any academic gaps currently undermining student success. If taking the SAT/ACT is not imminent but there is concern over the negative effects of learning deficits, then students can boost their readiness to perform well on these tests by enhancing their math and verbal skills in advance.
The other important metric parents can rely on is Advanced Placement courses and tests. The AP program was developed during the Cold War to ensure American students able to stay ahead of their counterparts abroad—most notably the Soviets, after the launch of the “Sputnik” satellite. While initially targeting areas that would help the country achieve and maintain technological superiority (math and science courses), the AP program was soon expanded to include areas in the humanities as well.
AP courses allow students to take college level courses while still in high school. Additionally, attaining high enough scores on AP tests enables students to earn college credit before embarking on their college careers. This strengthens the overall student portfolio that college admissions committees will consider and, at the same time, provides students with an effective bridge to the demands of college-level coursework.
Many schools have AP-designated classes available for student to take, while others offer honors or advanced courses that will serve as a solid foundation for students looking to take the AP tests in those subject areas. As always, the courses and tests to prioritize are those in the core subject areas—math, English, history and science. (Oxford comma deliberately omitted.)
In the wake of the pandemic and its lingering atmosphere of compromised academic standards, the best course of action is “trust but verify.” It is more important than ever to confirm your student’s grades and GPA with competitive scores on the SAT and ACT college entrance tests and AP classes and exams. Let’s help our students achieve real academic success and reach their true potential!
Contact Complete Education at 206-230-5672 to start building a foundation for academic success, for SAT/ACT prep, or for AP course prep.
To your student’s academic and life success,
Brent Davis, President
Complete Education, Inc.