Herricks prepares for forthcoming changes to SAT

Bryan Ahrens

Gina Horton, chairperson of the Student Services Department at Herricks High School, said on Thursday that upcoming changes to the SAT will better prepare students for college.

“The SAT has not been used as heavily as we thought in determining a students readiness for college,” Horton said during a presentation to the Board of Education.

The changes, which will be put in to effect in the spring of 2016, include a new scoring system ranging from 400-1600, where currently the scoring scale is out of 2400. The essay portion of the exam, which is mandatory, will be made optional, Horton said. In addition, wrong answers, which currently penalize students will not longer be deducted from the final score.

“Students were told before not to guess unless they could choose between two or three of the five answers,” she said.

Horton said the writing and reading on the test will have students define words in context instead of having to simply memorize words by definition.

Superintendent of Schools John Bierwirth said this change should allow students to more accurately analyze questions.

“It’s going to be more of explaining the right answer rather than finding out they tricked you to the wrong answer,” he said.

Currently, the reading and writing sections of the exam do not require students to cite evidence but only to demonstrate an understanding, Horton said. 

“Students will have to support answers with evidence,” she said. “They will have to say why an author is supporting a specific view.”

In addition to these changes, the reading and writing portion of the exam, which uses source documents to test a students ability to analyze, will now use documents ranging from a variety of academic subjects such as history and science, Horton said.

Changes to mathematics portion will consist of fewer topics, where before students could not be sure they would be tested on the areas they studied. Previously, Horton said, there were only one or two questions on each topic of high school math and students needed to study a large portion of the curriculum to be prepared for all topics.

“Students will also not have a calculator for the entire test,” she said. 

Horton went on to say students will be better tested if they only have calculators on the portion of the test that requires it.

Bierwirth said the changes would provide school districts with a better understanding of its students readiness for college.

“I think these changes will further show the difference between good school districts,” he said.

In other news:

The Herricks Board of Education introduced Fino Celano as the schools new superintendent.

“He is a really sincere man who will really move us forward,” school board President Jim Gounaris said.

Celano, who was announced in December to replace Bierwirth at the end of the 2014-15 school year, said he is eager to be a part of Herricks.

“I appreciate everyone’s confidence in me,” he said. I am very proud, humbled, and excited to have come to such a great community.”

The board approved both Celano’s contract and Bierwirth’s retirement.

“It’s been a honor,” Gounaris said of Bierworth. “He has really pushed the district forward.

Bierwirth, who has been the superintendent at Herricks for 14 years, said he is proud of his time at Herricks.

“I think we really pushed the envelope,” he said. “We made Herricks a great place.”

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