Hispanic students in Montgomery County improved their performance on the SAT, bucking a national and regional trend of dropping scores. The 8-point rise to 1,477 out of 2,400 stands out in a year when scores dropped 10 points across Montgomery, 6 points in Maryland and 9 points nationally. White, Asian and black students in Montgomery lost ground, as did Hispanic students on the state and national levels.
Frank Stetson, chief school performance officer for MCPS, credited an increasing focus on rigorous courses for all students, and noted SAT committees in each high school that make sure kids get the test prep they need.
| Montgomery’s demographic breakdown | ||||||||||
| All | Asian | Black | Hispanic | White | ||||||
| Montgomery County Public Schools | 2010: 1,647 | 2011: 1,637 | 2010: 1,766 | 2011: 1,759 | 2010: 1,272 | 2011: 1,266 | 2010: 1,469 | 2011: 1,477 | 2010: 1,750 | 2011: 1,745 | |||||
| Maryland | 2010: 1,502 | 2011: 1,492 | 2010: 1,686 | 2011: 1,682 | 2010: 1,272 | 2011: 1,266 | 2010: 1,451 | 2011: 1,440 | 2010: 1,618 | 2011: 1,618 | |||||
| Nation | 2010: 1,509 | 2011: 1,500 | 2010: 1,636 | 2011: 1,640 | 2010: 1,277 | 2011: 1,272 | 2010: 1,364 | 2011: 1,358 | 2010: 1,580 | 2011: 1,579 | |||||
“We have a lot of test-takers where they might be the first test-taker in their family, so we want to get them used to the format of the test,” Stetson said. “The length of time can be a shocker if you’re not prepared for it.”
Twenty-five percent of Montgomery County Public Schools students are Hispanic, a population that has more than tripled to 36,417 since 1993.
The achievement gap between Hispanic students and their white and Asian peers has been a strong focus for the school system, and remains enormous: Hispanic students’ average score of 1,477 is 268 points less than white students and 282 points less than Asian students.
But the improvement is a step toward trimming that gap in Montgomery; Hispanic students’ composite score across Maryland dropped 11 points.
Joy Burdin, the most recent head of the county PTA’s subcommittee on English-language learners, said the schools have made changes that help Hispanic parents engage in their children’s education. She was particularly impressed with translators who had been coming to parent meetings.
“I think these families really feel that they want their kids to do better than they’ve done,” Burdin said. “It’s one thing to just say it, but another thing to become a participant in success, and I see that slowly happening.”
