Sunny Days for SAT

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Improve Student Achievement on the SAT Georgia
Department of Education Kathy Cox State School
Superintendent
March 8, 2005Georgia Conference on High School
Improvement
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Charlotte Robinson
Program Manager Advanced Placement, SAT
PSAT Georgia Department of Education 404-656-6854
crobinso_at_doe.k12.ga.us

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EDUCATION PROGRAM SPECIALISTS-AP,SAT,PSAT

• MAUREEN CLOUSE
• maureen.clouse_at_doe.k12.ga.us
• 404-657-7062
• GEORGIA MCSWAIN
• gmcswain_at_doe.k12.ga.us
• 404-657-9799

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Improve SAT Scores

• Essential Questions
• Is your school
• Giving all 10th grade students the PSAT?
• Using the Score Report Plus?
• Using the Summary of Answers Skills Report?
• Using AP Potential to build your AP program?
• Building content specific vertical teams?
• Following a plan of action?
• Orienting students to the New SAT writing section?

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Essential Question 1

• Is your school giving all 10th graders the PSAT?

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PSAT/NMSQT Connections

• to colleges
• to scholarship opportunities
• to the new SAT
• to AP
• to individual students
• to the classroom

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District SAT Scores2003-2004
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District SAT Scores, 2005
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10th grade PSAT

• It provides students with great practice
• for the SAT.
• Students become familiar with the format,
• timing, question-types and expectations on an
• academic reasoning skills test.
• The State of Georgia pays for all tenth graders
• to take the PSAT.

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10th grade PSAT

• With the national norm reference for both
• juniors and sophomores, students get a first
• look at how they compare to others who will
• soon graduate and apply for college.

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10th grade PSAT

• The question analysis and the skills feedback
• in all three major academic areas help
• students identify areas of difficulty while
  there
• is still time to improve and to be prepared
• for the academic rigors of college.

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PSAT/NMSQT Content andQuestion Types
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Essential Question 2

• Is your school using the Student Score Reports?

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PSAT/NMSQT Student Connection

• Complete, personalized item analysis
• Individual skills feedback
• Enhanced learning via complete answer
  explanations
• Tips on how to improve
• Initial guidance on educational plans

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PSAT/NMSQT Score Report Plus

• For students and parents
• Students get test books back for review
• Complete, question-level detail, including
  performance
• Skills feedback and suggestions for how to
  improve
• Full, online explanations for all answers
• For teachers
• Insight into areas of academic weakness and an
  opportunity to revisit questions with students
  for better understanding
• For teachers and school counselors
• Insight into major of interest to help
  teachers/counselors work more practically with
  students
• Insights into interests and academic needs to
  guide students in selecting an appropriate
  program of study

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Score Report Plus
Outside cover helps students understand the
score report. School gets 2 copies one for
student, one for school
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Score Report Plus
Clearly shows scores and what they mean
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www.collegeboard.com/psatextra
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Score Report Plus
Scores clearly displayed Percentiles
graphically displayed (sophomores get sophomore
) Projected SAT range shown on number line
format
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Score Report Plus
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Score Report Plus
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Score Report Plus
Personalized feedback on academic skills
that need improvement.
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PSAT/NMSQTData for Schools and Districts

• Summary Reports
• State Standards Mapping
• Summary of Answers and Skills
• Student Data on Disk
• AP Potential

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Essential Question 3

• Is your school using the
• PSAT Summary
• of Answers and Skills?

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SOAS

• District SOAS is the best place to begin getting
  the big picture for each grade, and across
  grades (and this should be done for V (Critical
  Reading), M and W)
• School SOAS is the best place to begin
  identifying school level issues for each grade,
  and across grades

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SOAS

• Details the performance of a group (by grade) on
  each individual question
• Provides insights into wrong answer behavior by
  the group
• Summarizes comparative standing on skills,
  relative to the state and nation
• Compares performance, on each question, to the
  state, nation and comparable group (expected
  performance)

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What is a comparable group?

• Useful statistical model
• A statistically created group (virtual group)
• Mirrors your groups performance profile.
• This creates an expected performance indicator
  for your group on each question.
• Provides more actionable feedback than state or
  national averages on questions/skills.

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To access SOAS

• http//www.collegeboard.com/prof/
• counselors/tests/psat/sanswer.html

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Professional Login Account
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SOAS Report Summary of Answers and Skills
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Sample SOAS, Page 1

• SOAS explained

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SOAS Contents

• Critical Reading (pp. 2-6)
• Analyze Correct Critical Reading Answers Page 3
• Analyze Incorrect Critical Reading Answers
  Pages 4-5
• Analyze Performance on Critical Reading Skills
  Page 6
• Math Reasoning (pp. 7-11)
• Analyze Correct Math Answers Page 8
• Analyze Incorrect Math Answers Pages 9-10
• Analyze Incorrect Answers on Math Free-Response
  Section Page 10
• Analyze Performance on Math Skills Page 11
• Writing Skills (pp.12-16)
• Analyze Correct Writing Skills Answers Page 13
• Analyze Incorrect Writing Skills Answers Pages
  14-15
• Analyze Performance on Writing Skills Page 16

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Seven Steps to Using Your SOAS Data

• Focus on the questions that are noted on the Test
  Question Detail log.
• Review the incorrect answer choices in the test
  book to discover possible issues.
• Identify skills assessed by items students
  missed.
• Make inferences about what led to
  misunderstanding.
• Share problem questions with students in math and
  English classes to gain further insight.
• Identify where in the curriculum the skills are
  taught.
• Work within departments and classrooms to deal
  with common issues that need curricular attention.

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Analyze Correct Critical Reading Answers

• Read through the text of test to understand what
  is contained in this section.
• Note the keys for different comparison group
  codes.
• Note that data is provided in various ways in a
  table, and in two different charts.
• Bar graph comparisons
• Comparable group comparisons
• The difficulty level of each question is noted,
  ranging from 1 (easy) to 9 (difficult).

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Analyze Performance on Writing Skills

• This section identifies skills that are tied to
  test questions and provides a comparative look at
  performance.
• State and local performancerepresented by
  symbolsis shown in relation to the national
  average line.

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Analyze Incorrect Math Answers

• Text explains the data.
• Look at popular wrong
• answers for insight into
• students difficulty with
• the question.

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Analyze Incorrect Math Answers

• Some hints
• The percentage indicators help identify questions
  that caused problems for large percentage of
  students.
• Letters identify the incorrect answer choice.
• Correct answer is noted in gray shaded cell on
  right.
• Percentage of students who omitted the question
  is in black.

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Analyze Incorrect Math AnswersFree Response
Questions

• Correct answer(s)
• Most popular incorrect answer for each group
• The rest of the incorrect answers are grouped
  together.

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Test Question Detail Report
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Essential Question 4

• Is your school using
• AP Potential to build
• a strong AP Program?

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Importance of Access to AP

• AP access linked to success in college
• Rigorous high school curriculum is key
• AP participation linked to college completion
• More important than socioeconomic status
• More important than GPA

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Advanced Placement
In June 1999, the U.S. Department of Education
released a study by Clifford Adelman
showing that by the time students enter college,
the type of courses they took in high school is
more important than test scores, class rank, or
grade averages. Adelman found that students
participating in AP courses were significantly
more likely to attain a college degree than those
without an AP experience.
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The AP Program Benefits for Students

• Chance of those going to college who finish and
  receive a Bachelors degree
• 85 of those taking AP continue education beyond
  high school
• AP courses related more to degree completion than
  mere entry into college

Answers in the Tool Box, 1999, US Department of
Education
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Advanced Placement
If indeed being able to participate in
challenging courses in high school is key to
success in college, then every high school kid
ought to have that opportunity at their school.
Its a fundamental educational equity issue.
Lee Jones, Education Week, 4/25/02
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PSAT/NMSQT and AP Connection

• Research shows the relationship between
  PSAT/NMSQT and AP.
• PSAT/NMSQT scores are a significant predictor of
  students AP Exam grades.

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AP Potential

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• A tool that uses PSAT/NMSQT data to
• connect students to increased
• opportunities
• aid schools in creating new AP courses
• identify potential AP students who
• might not have been identified via the
• normal procedures

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AP Potential

• Identifies diamond-in-the-rough AP students
• Indicates AP courses for which they might be
  suited
• Promotes equity
• Helps your school find candidates for AP courses
• Provides useful lists for principals and
  counselors
• Expand AP programs
• Add courses
• Increase enrollment in current AP courses

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AP Potential

• http//www.appotential.collegeboard.com
• Click on About AP Potential
• Click on Demo
• If you have your code, you can pull reports.

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Essential question 5

• Do you have content specific MS/HS vertical
  teams?

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What is a vertical team?

• A vertical team is made up of same content area
  teachers from a middle and high school feeder
  pattern. Teachers focus on vertical alignment of
  rigorous curricula and prepare students for high
  level courses including Advanced Placement.
  Pre-AP training from the College Board is
  available.

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What is Pre-AP?
Pre-AP Professional Development (Pre-AP or
Vertical Team Training) is a suite of K-12
Professional Development resources and services.
The purpose of Pre-AP is to equip all middle and
high school teachers with the strategies and
tools they need to engage their students in
active, high-level learning, thereby ensuring
that every middle and high school student
develops the skills, habits of mind, and concepts
needed to succeed in college. Pre-AP is a key
component of the College Board's K-12
Professional Development unit.
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Who benefits from Pre-AP?
Everyone benefits from AP. Pre-AP prepares a
growing numbers of students, especially those
traditionally underrepresented in AP courses, for
the challenges offered by the Advanced Placement
Program. The explicitly stated goals of Pre-AP
are higher academic standards greater inclusion
increased communication, coordination,
enthusiasm, and empowerment closer ties between
AP courses and the courses preceding them and
wider dissemination of successful teaching
strategies. Consequently, both the teachers and
students are better prepared.
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Essential Question 6

• Is your school
• following a
• plan of action?

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Improvement Plan

• Determine from the PSAT SOAS
• What skills are being measured?
• What information can you gain from looking at
  the wrong answers students chose?
• Which questions were answered correctly more
• or less frequently than others?
• Where in the curriculum are these skills taught
• and reinforced?

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Improvement Plan

• Consider
• What role do all teachers in the school
• (beyond English and math) play in helping
• students develop critical thinking and
• reasoning skills?
• What are some ways to involve the
• school as a whole in focusing on skills
• measured by the PSAT/NMSQT?

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Essential Question 7

• Is your school orienting students to the New SAT
  writing section?

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New SAT Writing
Section

• Short essay
• Measures ability to organize ideas, express ideas
  clearly, support main idea, use conventions of
  standard written English
• Multiple-choice
• Measures ability to improve sentences and
  paragraphs, identify errors (diction, grammar,
  sentence construction, subject-verb agreement,
  proper word usage, wordiness)

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New SAT Writing Section

• A. Student written essay (1/3 of
  writing score)
• 1st section of
  SAT test - 25 minutes
• Rubric -scoring
  guide for essays
• B. Multiple-choice questions (2/3 of
  writing score)
• errors in sentences
  25 questions
• C. improvements in sentences 18
  questions
• D. improvement in paragraphs 6
  questions

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New SAT Writing Section

• Consider carefully the following excerpt and
  the assignment below it. Then plan and write an
  essay that explains your ideas as persuasively as
  possible. Keep in mind that the support you
  provide both reasons and examples will help
  make your view convincing to the reader.

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NEW SAT WRITING

• Example of an essay writing prompt
• The well-known proverb Ignorance is bliss
  suggests that people with knowledge of the
  worlds complexities and its limitations are
  often unhappy, while their less-knowledgeable
  counterparts remain contented. But how accurate
  is this folk wisdom? A recent study showed that
  well-informed people were more likely to report
  feelings of well-being. In fact, more knowledge
  leads people to feel better about themselves and
  more satisfaction with their lives.
• Adapted from Lee Sigelman, Is Ignorance Bliss? A
  Reconsideration of the Folk Wisdom.

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New SAT Writing

• Assignment What is your view of the idea
  that more knowledge makes people happier? In an
  essay, support your position by discussing an
  example (or examples) from literature, the arts,
  science and technology, current events, or your
  own experience or observation.

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New SAT Scoring Guide
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New SAT Scoring Guide