<p>It’s pretty sad… I guess there are many different ways to improve SAT scores: one is to genuinely improve overall academic performance of student body and SAT scores would improve as one of many positive consequences of such efforts. Another is obviously following the route described by danceaway. It’s really sad to hear that.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Interesting conjecture! If there is any conclusion is to be made, the schools with higher percentage of international students tend to perform poorer in SSAT and SAT (R= -0.47 and -0.24, respectively). I guess internationals may outperform in math but 2/3 of SSAT and SAT scores reflect English skills, which could erode whatever gains they might have in math.</p>
<p>The immigrant children (Asian, African, etc) on the West and East coasts where I have lived were the highest performing secondary students (by whatever metric you choose (eg., AMC, USAMO, SAT, AP, National Merit Finalists) in our land. That’s my observation over the last 25 years. In recent years, this observation is unequivocal.</p>
<p>aririba, I’m afraid you are confused about internationals v. immigrants</p>
<p>@SharingGift, S1 supports your assertion that SSAT is a predictor of SAT(PSAT) performance</p>
<p>Glad to hear that. Wait, we’ll soon witness a testimony that some kid who had 75 percentile SSAT manages to score 2350 in SAT, so statistics does not mean anything in “real” life.</p>
<p>Real life statistics means a messy cloud of data, and not a nice perfectly clean trend.</p>
<p>It is a very good analysis, SharingGift.<br>
If I may add, there could also be two factors that may have an impact on the numbers. </p>
<ol>
<li>% of day students at a boarding school.</li>
<li>% of Asian students, especially China and SKorea.</li>
</ol>
<p>Assume there are two schools of similar caliber. If School A has more day student % than school B, it may show higher SAT scores because day students may have an easier access to SAT prep outside the school. I heard that directly from one of the admission directors of the schools that we applied last year. So, I think it has some impact. Not always true but in many cases, yes, especially when the school is located near the metropolitan areas. </p>
<p>Also, if School C has a higher Asian population, I would assume their average SAT scores could be higher. I know many SKorean boarding students spend each summer back in SKorea doing extensive SAT prep work. I may be totally wrong, but those could be a factor although how to take that into the actual calculation is a question mark.</p>
<p>Impressive insights! IMO Lawrenceville and Milton belong to the first category. Linden Hall the second category.</p>
<p>Just wanted to bump this discussion up for those doing research in advance of March 10. </p>
<p>I thought the vast majority of kids who went to top prep schools had competitive SATs. It’s quite amazing to me that the average at so many of them barely topped 2000. Even for our state university honors program, you need a 2100. </p>
<p>Nice job! The SSAT to SAT change pattern is actually something we looked at from the outset. We were more interested in schools that showed larger gains, but never did a full analysis like this. Perhaps this will help kids tomorrow when their results come in. Several of the less sought after schools show the largest SSAT > SAT score improvements. </p>
<p>One thing we noticed in both kids’ schools is that there is a wide range of scores. So even schools that post lower SSAT and SAT scores will host kids with much higher and lower scores than the average. Both my kids have gone to schools where their scores were well above average, and their SAT scores are too. Neither kid ever felt less than maximally challenged. I say this knowing that tomorrow there will be kids who aren’t accepted to the top tier school of their choice. Sometimes that really is for the best.</p>
<p>Thanks for this. I’ve been wondering. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Perhaps you have an unreasonable expectation? I thought 2000 was pretty high for an average. Many good public high schools have around 1900.</p>
<p>2000 is pretty dang good. </p>
<p>@wcmom, I think your kids made wise decisions!</p>
<p>2000 is definitely good for an average for a public high school. I doubt too many reach that. I was just surprised that that was the average for so many tippy top boarding schools. If I were paying that much to send my child to a high school with superior academics and admissions criteria, I’d definitely be expecting an education that would result in a much more competitive SAT score. Most public schools are open to anyone in their service area so obviously run the gamut for scores. However, if you check out the boards for college admissions on here to the top universities and colleges, you’ll see that a 1900-2000 would not be enough.</p>
<p>IMHO, BS aren’t responsible for increases in SAT scores, SAT prep is, and a student can prep anywhere.</p>
<p>I agree. I think that a BS has lots of students who are on opposite ends of the spectrum with scholars and athletes. </p>
<p>The trend is there that BS averages are significantly higher than LPS averages. But for the sake of argument, let’s say the difference is small and disappointing. Then, aren’t BSs doing great since they send more students to top colleges with not so much better SAT scores. They must know what they are doing… very well. </p>