Peabody school board members stress importance of PSAT

PEABODY – Taking the PSATs might seem pointless for some students, but School Committee members Beverly Ann Griffin Dunne and Anne Manning beg to differ.Dunne asked the School Committee last week to explore increased awareness of the College Board administered test, specifically for tenth graders, after reading reports of the test’s success in Maine. She said that not only does taking the PSATs prepare students for the SATs, but also “opens up all kinds of venues for their future.””I remain convinced that the key to success on the SAT is experience with and success on the PSAT,” Massachusetts’s Education Commissioner David P. Driscoll said in a recent report. “We need to offer more opportunities to take this exam and find ways to reduce its cost. The more we can do to make sure sophomores take the PSAT, the more we will be doing to prepare them for future academic success.”Dunne said she would also like to see it administered to all students at no, or an at least, lowered cost.Dunne said it’s unfortunate that the test is generally downplayed and encourages schools, parents, and committee members to stress the benefits of taking the College Board exam.”I know that if we administer that test, or make it really available to all of our tenth graders, that in the long run it gives us another assessment tool for our students,” Dunne said. “And that’s always useful?and it gives some kids an option that they had never (thought of).” For example, a Merit Scholarship is awarded to juniors who score exceptionally high.According to the report, there’s a direct correlation with taking the test twice, as a sophomore, then again as a junior, and getting higher scores on the SATs.Public school students who took the PSATs at least once scored nearly 80 points higher on the reading, math, and the writing exam, than those students who did not. Students who had taken the PSATs scored an average of 547 in reading, 562 in math, and 549 on the writing exam. Students who did not take the PSATs before scored an average of 473 on the reading exam, 481 on the math exam, and 462 on the writing exam.Manning, too, said she thinks the PSATs and the SATs are important steps in the right direction for Peabody students’ future.”It’s a huge impediment for young adults who later want to go to college,” Manning said of those who decide against taking the test as a high school student. “It’s better to take it now and have it under their belt.”Administering the test to all students not only helps the students themselves, but the school, as well.”One of the ways that your high school program is evaluated by colleges is the level of participation for college board examinations,” said Dunne. “If we raise our level of participation, that will improve the academic rigor of program.” And that means that Peabody High School students would compete better in the game of college admissions.The PSAT is scheduled to be administered this Saturday at Peabody Veterans Memorial High School.