Contact: Melissa Salmanowitz | 202.535.1096
Today, 11th grade District of Columbia Public School (DCPS) students will take the SAT in their high schools as part of a national SAT School Day. The college-entrance test, offered for free to all DCPS high school juniors, will be administered at all 17 DCPS high schools, including comprehensive, application and alternative schools.
Starting with the Class of 2014, all DCPS students will take the SAT or a similar college entrance exam during high school.
“The SAT is one of the bare minimums for college, and yet barriers still existed for too many of our students,” said DCPS Chancellor Kaya Henderson. “For the first time this year, we’re offering the SAT for free, to all juniors, during the week to eliminate as many barriers as we can. We’ve also provided several tools to help our students prepare for SAT success.”
DCPS expects nearly 2,000 students to take the exam today. To prepare for the exam, students have had access to test preparation through online tools offered by College Board, the District’s Individual Graduation Portfolio, and Kaplan, in addition to school-managed prep courses.
SAT School Day is one of many opportunities DCPS is offering to help ensure students are college and career ready. DCPS administered the PSAT at all high schools for 9th to 11th grade students. DCPS also continues to expand rigorous academic opportunities for students through dual enrollment, Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) courses.
Students from several high schools have the opportunity to take college courses on a college campus through the College Access and Readiness for Everyone (CARE) program at UDC-CC. The third cohort of School Without Walls students will graduate from the George Washington University Early College Program with their Associate degree this spring. In addition, DCPS offers a High School/College Internship Program (HISCIP) that provides high school seniors the opportunity to take college courses at nine area colleges and universities.
DCPS has also increased its offerings of AP and IB courses to increase rigor and raise expectations for high school students. Beginning with the 2010-2011 school year, DCPS required all of high schools to offer at least four AP courses, including at least one in English, math, science and social studies. This policy shift has led to a 36 percent increase in the number of AP courses offered. The school year before this change in policy was made, DCPS offered 106 courses. This year, DCPS is currently offering 144 AP courses across the District.
For more information about academic programming, click here.