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Students at Pleasantville High showed their biggest improvement in 2012 in the math portion of the exam. In 2012, 137 students scored an average of 576 on the reading portion, 585 on math and 576 on writing. In 2011, 133 students scored an average of 561 on reading, 558 in math and 576 in writing. To put the scores in perspective, the national average in 2012 was 496 in reading, 488 in math and 514 in writing.
Pleasantville High School Principal Dawn Bartz said at a December Board of Education meeting that the improvements are no surprise.
"Our SAT scores are steadily going up," Bartz said. "I think that's due to some of the curriculum changes that have been made in our high school and that the scores will continue to go up."
Although questions on the SAT are not directly tied to the high school curriculum, Bartz said that the high school added more SAT materials into the curriculum of the high school's math and English courses.
On SAT Subject Tests, which are more in line with curriculum, Pleasantville students in 2012 improved scores from 2011 in each subject by an average of 9.5 points per test. The SAT Subject Tests include literature, U.S. History, math level 1 & 2, biology and chemistry.
SAT scores may continue to improve in the future, Bartz predicted. This year the high school offers more SAT preparation courses after school in Pleasantville through Kaplan at a discounted rate through sponsorship by Pleasantville parent groups.
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