<p>RobD, thanks for that. I had never seen it before. It appears my estimates based of NMSF’s based on graduation rates were very close.</p>
<p>The ratio of NMSF to testers by state looks like this:</p>
<p>Alabama 1.42%
Alaska 1.72%
Arizona 1.77%
Arkansas 2.30%
California 1.25%
Colorado 1.15%
Connecticut 0.76%
Delaware 0.76%
DC 1.36%
Florida 1.11%
Georgia 1.02%
Hawaii 0.80%
Idaho 1.50%
Illinois 1.45%
Indiana 0.59%
Iowa 2.15%
Kansas 1.70%
Kentucky 1.84%
Louisiana 1.90%
Maine 0.59%
Maryland 0.66%
Massachusetts 0.80%
Michigan 1.57%
Minnesota 1.35%
Mississippi 2.38%
Missouri 2.38%
Montana 1.17%
Nebraska 1.67%
Nevada 1.16%
New Hampshire 1.34%
New Jersey 0.76%
New Mexico 1.61%
New York 0.62%
North Carolina 0.80%
North Dakota 1.93%
Ohio 1.30%
Oklahoma 2.47%
Oregon 1.03%
Pennsylvania 1.04%
Rhode Island 1.00%
South Carolina 1.06%
South Dakota 1.59%
Tennessee 1.70%
Texas 0.77%
Utah 3.40%
Vermont 1.03%
Virginia 0.86%
Washington 1.10%
West Virginia 2.16%
Wisconsin 1.86%
Wyoming 1.58%
Other 0.65%</p>
<p>with ME and IN (surprisingly, IMO) the lowest and Utah the highest. In general, northeast states, with high test participation, have proportionally fewer testers who become NMSF’s.</p>
<p>My analysis would be that SAT-dominant states, where taking the PSAT is more likely to serve as practice for the higher-stakes test, have students with more incentive to take the test. This drives more participation which, in turn, creates lower NMSF/tester ratios. Below I have sorted the ratios from lowest to highest and have marked the states with high ACT participation rates (over 50%) with an “x”. (High ACT participation rates are directly indicative of low SAT rates - the only state which has over 50% participation in both is MI)</p>
<p>Maine 0.59%
Indiana 0.59%
New York 0.62%
Other 0.65%
Maryland 0.66%
Delaware 0.76%
New Jersey 0.76%
Connecticut 0.76%
Texas 0.77%
North Carolina 0.80%
Massachusetts 0.80%
Hawaii 0.80%
Virginia 0.86%
Rhode Island 1.00%
Georgia 1.02%<br>
Oregon 1.03%<br>
Vermont 1.03%<br>
Pennsylvania 1.04%<br>
South Carolina 1.06% x
Washington 1.10%<br>
Florida 1.11% x
Colorado 1.15% x
Nevada 1.16%<br>
Montana 1.17% x
California 1.25%<br>
Ohio 1.30% x
New Hampshire 1.34%<br>
Minnesota 1.35% x
DC 1.36%<br>
Alabama 1.42% x
Illinois 1.45% x
Idaho 1.50%<br>
Michigan 1.57% x
Wyoming 1.58% x
South Dakota 1.59% x
New Mexico 1.61% x
Nebraska 1.67% x
Tennessee 1.70% x
Kansas 1.70% x
Alaska 1.72%<br>
Arizona 1.77%<br>
Kentucky 1.84% x
Wisconsin 1.86% x
Louisiana 1.90% x
North Dakota 1.93% x
Iowa 2.15% x
West Virginia 2.16% x
Arkansas 2.30% x
Missouri 2.38% x
Mississippi 2.38% x
Oklahoma 2.47% x
Utah 3.40% x</p>
<p>Those numbers were for the class of 2010. The Class of 2011 annual report should be released sometime in October; it will be interesting to see how the number/state changes from year to year. Which is why I’d love to get my hands on the older annual reports, but I can’t find them.</p>
<p>I was curious as to the correlation with a low percentage of students in a state making SF and a high cutoff score. Here is the data. I also graphed it, but can’t paste the graph here, and there is definitely a correlation, albeit not a perfect one. Using last year’s percentages and last year’s cutoff scores.</p>
<p>State % SF St SF Cutoff
Indiana 0.59% IN 212
Maine 0.59% ME 213
New York 0.62% NY 217
Maryland 0.66% MD 220
Connecticut0.76% CT 219
Delaware 0.76% DE 215
New Jersey 0.76% NJ 221
Texas 0.77% TX 215
Hawaii 0.80% HI 215
Massachusetts0.80% MA 223
North Carolina0.80% NC 214
Virginia 0.86% VA 218
Rhode Island1.00% RI 211
Georgia 1.02% GA 215
Oregon 1.03% OR 215
Vermont 1.03% VT 212
Pennsylvania1.04% PA 216
South Carolina1.06% SC 208
Washington 1.10% WA 218
Florida 1.11% FL 210
Colorado 1.15% CO 212
Nevada 1.16% NV 208
Montana 1.17% MT 208
California 1.25% CA 219
Ohio 1.30% OH 212
New Hampshire1.34% NH 214
Minnesota 1.35% MN 213
DC 1.36% DC 223
Alabama 1.42% AL 210
Illinois 1.45% IL 214
Idaho 1.50% ID 208
Michigan 1.57% MI 209
Wyoming 1.58% WY 202
South Dakota1.59% SD 205
New Mexico 1.61% NM 206
Nebraska 1.67% NE 210
Kansas 1.70% KS 211
Tennessee 1.70% TN 212
Alaska 1.72% AK 214
Arizona 1.77% AZ 209
Kentucky 1.84% KY 208
Wisconsin 1.86% WI 209
Louisiana 1.90% LA 210
North Dakota1.93% ND 202
Iowa 2.15% IA 209
West Virginia2.16% WV 202
Arkansas 2.30% AR 203
Mississippi 2.38% MS 205
Missouri 2.38% MO 210
Oklahoma 2.47% OK 206
Utah 3.40% UT 203</p>
<p>It should not be surprising (post # 801)that IN has a low percentage of students taking the PSAT who become NMSF. The state pays for juniors to take the test and, at least for the high school mine attended, a large percentage of the sophomore class can take the test free of charge (after juniors have signed up,the sophomores are offered seats first come, first served).</p>
<p>I wonder if the numbers for Indiana and Main are errors–did someone forget a “1” before the decimal? Why would they differ so much from their neighboring states?
Sophomore scores wouldn’t be included, would they?</p>
<p>If you look at the numbers for Indiana vs. Illinois, more students actually took the PSAT in Indiana than in Illinois. But Illinois has twice the population of Indiana. The fact that the Indiana Department of Education is covering the cost of the exam likely results in more students taking the exam - all sophomores and juniors took it at my children’s high school. But you probably get types of students taking the exam in Indiana who would not take it in other states. I wonder what the rate of NMFs to graduating seniors is on a state-by-state basis? I suspect that it is more even from state to state.</p>
<p>Hoosiermom – in my son’s school (Illinois public school), the school district pays for the PSAT and administers it during school hours to all of the juniors. From looking over the Illinois schools in the SF list, I would guess that in Illinois you either take the PSAT during school hours and it’s paid for by the school, or you don’t take it at all. (Illinois has a pretty low SAT participation rate.) My son’s school is in compliance with No Child Left Behind now, but clearly has little chance of meeting the standards when they are higher. (Their test scores have stayed roughly the same year after year.) So the principal devotes lots of school resources to test taking and training kids to take tests, and the PSAT is one conveniently-timed test for their test-taking strategy.</p>
<p>There is a clear advantage to being one of the few schools that gives the PSAT in a state where PSAT participation is low. Because the cut-off is lower, you have a higher chance of actually having a semi-finalist or two. So it’s a better return on a school’s test-taking investment. It’s also easy to see how this could set off an “arms race” between schools, which would increase the participation rate, raise the cut-off, and shrink the advantage.</p>
<p>“I would guess that in Illinois you either take the PSAT during school hours and it’s paid for by the school, or you don’t take it at all.”</p>
<p>Our high school is in northern Illinois with over 4000 students. Our school offers the test on Saturday. The school does not pay for it. They announce registration for the test, but don’t really explain why you should take it. I’m not sure how many of our students actually take it.</p>
The effect of low participation on cut-off scores is probably only slight. In such states there is a kind of self-selection in which most of the potential high-scorers take the test and lower-scorers do not. It is doubtful that increased participation would proportionally increase the number of high scores.</p>
<p>I don’t put much stock in such self-selection. In regions where none of the high schools offer the PSAT, the only way that they know National Merit Scholars is if outsiders move into the community who went to high school in a place that had NMS. They would need to track down test dates and locations, sign up, travel long distances. When my son took the SAT last January, he drove 40 miles to the nearest location, and there were only 4 test takers there. And two of those test takers were 8th-graders using the test for admission to IMSA (Illinois’ state-wide public boarding school for math and science.) My husband is a college professor, and is not aware of any NM scholars, commended students, etc., attending the school in recent memory. Yes, they’ve got kids with 34/35/36 ACTs, but taking the PSAT is pretty rare here.</p>
<p>While I was a NMS, and my husband a NMF, I’m not sure that we would have gotten our acts together to find my son a PSAT testing site if the high school had not offered it. </p>
<p>And now the high school has a NMS that they can publicize in the local newspaper and hold up as proof of excellence in the school to the community. A nice reward for their efforts.</p>
<p>Does anyone know if there is a way to confirm with NMSC that it has received all the documents to move to the Finalist stage? I’m always nervous when someone else is “in charge” (i.e. guidance counselor), although I will send a reminder to the school next week. We have completed all the student requirements.</p>
<p>MWMom107 – yup – call National Merit at (847) 866-5100. They will be very kind about checking and letting you know if your student’s file is complete, or what is missing.</p>
<p>Do principals recommend more than one student per school for NM Finalist? Last year our school had 6 semifinalists and only 1 finalist. I’m wondering why that would be? Is it possible that a principal would only recommend one kid per year? This year our school had twelve.</p>
<p>@mlarocco1 I mentioned earlier in this thread (or another) that I knew of someone years ago who was NMSF but did not get Finalist because school was extremely selective about who they would endorse. There was no disciplinary issue. I thought it was a rare occurrence, perhaps not as rare as I imagined. In the situation you describe there were 5 students who were NMSF and did not make Finalist.</p>
<p>*Do principals recommend more than one student per school for NM Finalist? Last year our school had 6 semifinalists and only 1 finalist. I’m wondering why that would be? Is it possible that a principal would only recommend one kid per year? This year our school had twelve. *</p>
<p>Schools are NOT limited to the number that they can endorse. A school can have 100 NMSF and recommend EVERYONE! </p>
<p>Personally, I think a principal is a total idiot if he “picks and chooses”. He should endorse EVERY single one unless there’s a discipline issue or GPA issue. </p>
<p>There’s a lot of misinfo out there, so it’s possible that a GC or principal is under the wrong impression that he can only endorse one…if so, he needs to be enlightened. </p>
<p>Principals who don’t endorse for every eligilble NMSF should be made to say why and the issue should be brought before the school board and district offices. </p>
<p>My kids’ high school has only had one child not make finalist…and he wrote a rude sarcastic essay about the PSAT. After that one time, the principal has insisted that he and the GC look over every essay.</p>
<p>Did I miss this? Is there a word limit on the application for NMF finalist?
I thought I saw 600 word or 3600 characters, but now i cannot remember if that is so?</p>