Yesterday the NH Department of Education released NH's 2017 Preliminary College Board School Day SAT Results. We are disappointed, period!

The news isn't all bleak ~ statewide our state's students improved 3% in Math skills... Absent that, the rest of the news feels like a kick in the gut. The percentage of students meeting (or exceeding) Grade 11 Proficiency Benchmarks is merely 66% in English, Reading & Writing, and 44% in Mathematics. I am aware that the state has several impoverished rural school districts. I am also aware that there are some substantial pockets of non Native-English speaking students within our borders. I can't imagine those two student groups account for 56% of our state's 11th graders.

I was in the Hopkinton High School gymnasium this week, attending an event for my grandson. The gym walls were plastered with state championship banners for a large variety of sports across many years. Moving to the cafeteria I was equally impressed with several academic achievement banners, posters and plaques.

The facilities certainly aren't/weren't the success precipitator. There's nothing exceptional about their physical campus. Is it the parents? The staff? The curriculum? The expectations placed upon the students? School esprit decor? Local wealth?

If I were the NH DOE, I would take my magnifying glass on a road trip to Hopkinton, to see what I could learn, then do my best to bring what I learned to any community, parent, school board or state educator that would listen.

~ Publisher

► Of Interest:  
NH 2017 Preliminary School Day SAT Results
2017 Smarter Balanced Assessment Preliminary Results
Statewide NH Educational Achievement Scores D-


Posted 6/16/17