Parent Page--Testing

Advanced Placement Testing

Archdiocese of Hartford Catholic High School Students Offer a Variety of Advanced Placement Opportunities

All of the nine Catholic high schools within the Archdiocese of Hartford offer Advanced Placement courses in a variety of subjects. The number and range of courses differ from school to school, but in the coming school year, Catholic high schools will offer anywhere from three to fourteen Advanced Placement opportunities to upper level students. Among the offerings will be math, literature, modern and ancient language, history, psychology, science, art and music. Approximately 700 students across the Archdiocese participate in the Advanced Placement program. Of those, an average of 70% receives a score of 3 or better granting them college credit in those disciplines.

In addition, most high schools have formed relationships with local colleges and universities, including the University of Connecticut, Albertus Magnus, Teikyo Post, the University of New Haven, St. Joseph College, the University of Hartford, and Yale University, that enable Catholic high school students to take courses at those institutions. There are as many models for this as there are schools involved, but in all cases, students of Catholic high schools who demonstrate exceptional academic ability have extraordinary opportunities to challenge themselves and get a head start on college.

Standardized Testing

Archdiocese of Hartford Students
Outperform Students Nationally on Standardized Tests

testing

Each spring students in the Catholic elementary schools of the Archdiocese of Hartford take the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS). This year, as in the past, Archdiocese of Hartford students’ performance on all subtests of this battery - math, reading, language arts, science, and social studies - measured in the upper third of students tested nationally.

IOWA TEST OF BASIC SKILLS

Each spring students in grades 3 through 7 of the elementary and middle schools of the Archdiocese of Hartford take the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS). Their scores are reported in both grade equivalents and percentiles. The following chart indicates the Archdiocesan average grade equivalents in the major tested areas. Students take ITBS in the seventh month (March) of each school year and should achieve minimally a grade equivalent score of the seventh month of whatever grade they are in. For example, third graders should score 3.7 (third grade, seventh month), fourth graders should score about a 4.7 (fourth grade, seventh month), and so on.

Among all schools in the Archdiocese, there is demonstrated academic growth of one year or better in all tested areas.

The ITBS is a norm-referenced exam that measures student performance and growth in school related skills. During the spring of 2008, the average scores of students in the 61 schools of the Archdiocese of Hartford fell in the top quarter nationally. National percentile scores listed here represent a national ranking. The third grade core percentile score of 83, for example, indicates that third graders in the Archdiocese of Hartford scored as well as or better than 83 % of the national norm group used to develop the ITBS.

SAT – College Entrance Exam

The exceptional performance of Archdiocesan students on standardized testing continues when students move on to high school. Students in this Archdiocese perform well on all areas of the SAT, but especially in the verbal area where performance is well above both state and national average.

During the 2006-2007 school year, 1162 college bound students of the nine Catholic high schools in the Archdiocese of Hartford took the SAT Reasoning Test™ as part of the college admission process. The average SAT score of students attending Catholic high schools in the Archdiocese of Hartford is above both the state of Connecticut and national average in all three tested areas. The dramatic differences occur in the critical reading and writing tests.

The following table charts SAT scores over the past two years:

	Critical Reading		Math		Writing
	2006	2007	2006	2007	2006	2007
National	500	502	514	515	492	495
State of Connecticut	505	510	510	512	504	511
Archdiocese of Hartford	523	530	516	525	523	535

Catholic secondary school graduates have long demonstrated their eminent suitability for all colleges, universities, professions, and all respected walks of the busy American market place. The commitment to QUALITY CATHOLIC EDUCATION is as tenacious now as when an infant 19th century Catholic parish in Hartford opened its doors over 100 years ago!

There are many reasons to acclaim the Archdioceses of Hartford’s elementary, middle, and high schools. We continue to proudly exalt our elementary and middle schools who, in teaching the whole child, prepare our students so well for success in high school. We pay tribute to our Archdiocesan high schools who graduate 100% of their students with 98.8% advancing to higher education, training programs, and the military. Lastly, we proudly tout the fact that all our elementary/middle/secondary schools of the Archdiocese are fully accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.