Some blame GHS math department for the school’s low SAT
scores
Gilroy – When it comes to Gilroy High School’s Scholastic Aptitude Test scores, Denise Apuzzo knows exactly where to lay the blame.
“What’s not happening is (the district is) not acknowledging that the math program is creating holes,” said Gilroy resident and mother Denise Apuzzo. “Until we fix those holes the numbers will keep going down.”
Apuzzo’s reaction came after GHS Assistant Principal Greg Camacho-Light finished his presentation on local SAT data during the Gilroy Unified School District board meeting Thursday.
Apuzzo said her daughter, a junior at GHS, took the PSAT recently and discovered that she had not learned many of the math concepts that appeared on the practice college entrance exam. Because she had not learned the skills in school she had to hire a private tutor for her daughter, said Apuzzo.
Trustee Tom Bundros echoed Apuzzo’s concerns pointing out that Gilroy doesn’t mirror the nationwide trend of higher math than verbal scores. Bundros said the SAT data “validates” the school’s low standardized test scores in math and shows a need for an improvement of the GHS math program.
It’s true that the local high school is trailing behind the average senior at schools throughout Santa Clara County and the state. During the 2003-2004 school year, the average GHS math score was 494, compared to a county average of 565 and California average of 519. During the 2004-2005 school year, the average math score at GHS dropped by one-point to 493, while both the county and state averages rose to 568 and 521, respectively.
The low math scores are reflected in the student’s overall averages. During the 2003-2004 school year GHS students scored an average 996 on the SAT compared to 1,093 in the county and 1,015 in the state. During the 2004-2005 school year, the average GHS score dropped to 977, while the county’s rose to 1,098 and the state’s to 1,020.
Camacho-Light said the high school is responding to the deficiency and “putting more rigor” back into GHS’ math department.
In response to board members’ request Camacho-Light compiled additional data on GHS’ participation and performance on the college entrance exam. The assistant principal had presented the high school’s scores to the board at a previous meeting.
The new data presented on Thursday included state and county comparisons of students taking the SAT over the past six years, comparisons between Salinas, San Benito and Live Oak high schools, factors that determine participation and scores and a summary of what GHS officials are doing to help bump up both.
Through the PowerPoint presentation Camacho-Light showed the board that the number of seniors at GHS has dipped and spiked since 1999 but the increases weren’t adequately reflected in the number of SAT-takers.
During the 1999 school year, 133 of the 418 seniors at GHS took the test. The number climbed to 172 during the 2000-2001 and 2002-2003 school years. But during those two years the number of seniors increased by 61. During the 2003-2004 school year 188 of the 493 seniors took the SAT. In 2004-2005, 194 of the 549 seniors opted to take the exam.
The number of seniors taking the SAT in Gilroy is slightly higher than Santa Clara County’s average. During the 2003-2004 school year 38 percent of Gilroy’s senior class took the test compared to 36 percent of the county. During the 2004-2005 school year 35 percent of GHS’ seniors took the SAT compared to 34 percent of Santa Clara County’s seniors.
But, compared to California, Gilroy is behind. During the 2003-2004 school year 47 percent of the state’s seniors opted to take the test and in 2004-2005 that number rose to half.
Trustee Rhoda Bress said she wants to see data from the SAT II and would like to see the district identify what students are opting out of the SAT.
“I think it’s important to find out who’s the student that’s sitting down to take the SAT,” said Camacho-Light.
That the children of poor, uneducated parents are likely to score much lower than their wealthier classmates on the SAT was another piece of data that caused concern.
Trustee David McRae said the district should have more outreach programs for underprivileged students. If students had the chance to visit a college campus it would make the dream more of a reality, he said.
The high school already has some programs in place to encourage at-risk students to go the college route. Students can attend free SAT workshops at GHS and take the SAT on designated weekends on campus.
GHS academic advisors promote the SAT by holding parent presentations and making automatic home calls announcing test times and dates.
