Toledo Public Schools students continue to lag behind in the state when it comes to SAT math scores, with nearly 90 percent of juniors and seniors failing to meet benchmarks on the college-entrance exam.
Thirteen percent — or 133 of the 1,033 students who took the SAT — scored a 530 or higher on the test. The score is considered to show the student “will be able to succeed in their college courses,” according to the Ohio Department of Education website.
A majority of students across the state struggled to meet the scoring benchmark as well, with 32 percent — or 5,360 of the 16,995 students — meeting that standard.
Two Toledo schools where most students met benchmarks are Toledo Early College High School, where 67 percent — or 39 of 58 students — met the standard, and Toledo Technology Academy where 59 percent — or 27 of 46 students — scored proficient on the SAT.
Fewer than 7 percent of students met the math benchmark at most of the district’s other high schools, with the exception of Bowsher and Start. Bowsher, which included students in the Aerospace & Natural Science Academy of Toledo, had 31 — or 14 percent — of 229 students meet the standard. At Start, 10 percent — or 20 of the 207 students — managed to do so.
Ohio school districts are mandated to administer either the ACT or SAT exam in the spring to juniors, while seniors can also retake the test. While some districts choose the ACT, others like Toledo Public Schools requires its students to take the SAT.
Jim Gault, Toledo Public Schools’ executive transformational leader of curriculum, said district math scores on the SAT have historically been a challenge. For the past four years, 12 percent to 13 percent of students typically met the benchmark on the test, and that’s roughly been the same threshold in years prior, he said.
Just after the pandemic began, 13 percent of the 148 students who took the college-entrance exam met the scoring standard. In the two years that followed, the number of students taking the test fell to 124 and 126, respectively, and 12 percent met the benchmark.
“We’re getting back to almost even to where we were pre-COVID levels,” he said. “But we’ve got to start moving ahead. And you can’t just do that and say, ‘We’ll focus on our [high school] math and SAT,’ it has to be a pre-k through 12th-grade focus.”
As part of that effort, Mr. Gault said the district implemented a new math curriculum this academic year for the first time in a decade, which also included new upgraded training and teaching methods. He said officials have also been aggressively hiring more math-certified teachers.
Diana Jones-Manley, the district’s senior director of advanced academics, said students scored better on the SAT’s evidence based reading and writing portion, with 27 percent, or 283 students, meeting the 480 or higher benchmark score.
That’s an improvement from the 23 percent who met the scoring standard in 2020 and the 25 percent who did so in 2021 and 2022, she said.
“We’re making small gains and we hope that we continue in that direction,” Mrs. Jones-Manley said.
Statewide 48 percent of overall students met the benchmark, a slight decrease from the 53 percent and 51 percent of students who did so in 2021 and 2022, respectively.
Mr. Gault said one takeaway from the SAT results is they show the percentage of students who meet benchmarks in math tend to likewise do so on the reading. Moving forward, he said students at most grade levels can expect to see more of a blend of reading and writing in their math classes, and maybe vice versa.
“If we can increase that math, we can increase to where students are passing all components,” he said. “And that’s something that we have to focus in on really across all of our schools in order to really move that needle.”
First Published May 15, 2023, 11:30 a.m.
