Howard County Public School Students Continue to Excel on SAT, ACT

September 27th, 2016

Class of 2016 Scored Nearly 100 Points Higher Than College Board’s Benchmark for College Readiness

Students in the Howard County Public School System (HCPSS) continue to excel in performance on the SAT and ACT, two widely accepted measures of college readiness. Scores released by ACT and the College Board, which implements the SAT, indicate HCPSS students are outperforming state and national peers on both tests, and show encouraging progress in narrowing achievement gaps.

“SAT and ACT are valuable indicators of students’ readiness for college and career success,” said Superintendent Renee A. Foose. “These results underscore the effectiveness of teaching and the high levels of learning in all Howard County public schools.”

The mean composite score on the new SAT was 1647 for the HCPSS Class of 2016. While the composite score is slightly lower than in the prior year, it exceeds the College Board benchmark for college and career readiness of 1550 by 97 points. The SAT underwent significant revisions in March 2016, and as a result, the College Board reported scores for testing completed through January 2016.

Among SAT subtests, the HCPSS average score was 547 for Critical Reading, 561 for Mathematics, and 540 for Writing. These scores significantly outpace the Maryland averages of 490 in Critical Reading, 490 in Mathematics and 476 in Writing, as well as the national averages of 494, 508 and 482, respectively.

ACT results also show HCPSS students outpacing their peers in Maryland and the nation. HCPSS score averages for test categories were Reading, 24.9; Math, 24.6; English, 24.4; and Science, 24.1. In comparison, scores at the state and national level, respectively, were Reading, 23.6 and 21.3; Math, 22.7 and 20.6; English, 22.6 and 20.1; and Science, 22.8 and 20.8.

Results for specific HCPSS student groups are especially encouraging. SAT participation and performance among both Black/African American and Hispanic 2016 graduates show increasing trends since 2012. ACT participation also shows an increasing trend for both groups. For example, ACT participation among Black/African American graduates increased by 3.7 percentage points in 2016 over 2015, and increased by 10.8 percentage points since 2012. Among Hispanic graduates, participation increased by 2.8 percentage points in 2016, and by 8.3 percentage points since 2012.

HCPSS will release a comprehensive report on Class of 2016 SAT and ACT participation and performance at the Board of Education meeting on October 20, 2016.