September 24, 1997
Manchester High School students' average scores on the Scholastic Assessment Tests for 1997, compared with the State and National averages.

MANCHESTER — Results of the most recent Scholastic Assessment Tests have Manchester officials beaming. Manchester High School's Class of 1997 outmatched the average scores of their peers from across the state and nation on the standardized test. The students also topped the average scores of the previous year's class in both the math and verbal sections.

In the verbal section of the exam, the average score was 520, a jump of 18 points over the last year. The math average climbed 15 points over last year to 513. "We're very pleased," said Anne Marie Mistretta, assistant superintendent for curriculum.

There was no significant difference between the number of Manchester students who took the exam in 1996 and in 1997, at 77.4 and 77.5 percent, respectively. The total number of students who took the test in 1997 was 259 out of a class of 334, compared to 277 out of 358 in 1996.

This is only the second year of the new exams. The SATs were "recentered" last year in an attempt to make the scoring fairer. School officials say comparing the recentered test scores to those of prior years does not give an accurate analysis. "The test remains important because colleges feel it's important," Mistretta said. However, Mistretta said local school officials put more stock in the results of the Connecticut Academic Performance Test.
"We feel it's a truer measure of students' ability to think through problems," she said.
Manchester High School Principal James W. Spafford said he could not pinpoint a specific reason that would explain the jump in test scores. He said the dynamics of each class is different, but said there probably were several factors that contributed to the score improvements.

He said teachers formatted test questions for their classes to model the types of questions students would find on the SAT "so that students become familiar with SAT techniques."

The school, over the past few years, has also placed more of an emphasis on reading and on answering essay questions by drawing on multiple disciplines such as history, science and English literature. "So what we're looking at is more general knowledge and how to apply that knowledge," Spafford said. "Our students are learning more how to apply knowledge, not just how to acquire it." Spafford said improvements in the math area can be attributed in part to the MATH Connections Program, a school-wide integrated math program started four years ago. Rather than teach algebra I to freshmen, geometry to sophomores and algebra II to juniors, freshmen will be taught a little of algebra and geometry, for example. This way, learning is not done in a vacuum and students can use their accumulated knowledge to solve practical, or "real world" math problems, he said. Despite the rise in the SAT scores, Mistretta said there is room for improvement. "We're always looking to do better."