THOUSANDS OF IDAHO PUBLIC SCHOOL JUNIORS TAKE THE SAT TODAY

Nearly 17,000 public school juniors across Idaho today took part in the first-ever Idaho SAT School Day. Idaho SAT School Day was created as the result of a 2007 Idaho state law instituting new graduation requirements to ensure more students graduate from high school prepared to go on to postsecondary education or the workforce. One of the law’s requirements is that all Idaho students, beginning with the high school class of 2013, complete a college entrance exam before the end of their junior year. Through the passage of Students Come First during the 2011 Idaho legislative session, lawmakers appropriated $963,500 for schools to offer the SAT, during regular school hours, to the class of 2013 at no cost to the students or their families.


“Idaho has now joined other states in creating SAT School Day, a critical piece of Students Come First that will help every district and public charter school ensure students not only graduate from high school but are prepared to go on to postsecondary education after high school,” said Tom Luna, Idaho Superintendent of Public Instruction.

The SAT is already administered to all public school students in the states of Maine and Delaware, as well as in school districts throughout Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Maryland, New Jersey, and Texas.

“Ensuring that as many high school students as possible have the necessary skills and knowledge to succeed in college is more important now than at any point in our nation’s history,” said College Board Vice President James Montoya, a former dean of admission. “College is a major family financial investment, and doing well on the SAT is one way to maximize that life-time investment. When used in combination with high school grades, the SAT is the most valid predictor of first-year college success.”

As part of Idaho School Day, every SAT registration includes up to four free score reports that can be sent to colleges and scholarship services. Registering for the SAT also enables students to participate in the College Board’s Student Search Service®, through which students can let colleges, universities and scholarship programs know they are interested in hearing from them. Students participating in the Student Search Service also have the opportunity to receive educational and financial aid information from colleges, universities and scholarship programs.

The SAT is the oldest and most widely used college entrance exam in the nation. Divided into three subsections, the SAT tests the reading, mathematics and writing skills students learn in their high school coursework. More than two million students take the SAT each year, and SAT scores are used in the admission process at nearly all four-year colleges and universities in the United States. The University of Idaho, Idaho State University, Boise State University, Brigham Young University, Utah State University, the University of Washington and Washington State University are among the many Idaho-area institutions that accept SAT scores for admission purposes.


The SAT®

Created by educators to democratize access to higher education, the SAT® is a highly reliable standardized measure of college readiness used in the admission process at nearly all four-year, not-for-profit undergraduate colleges and universities in the United States. Aligned to high school curricula, the SAT tests the reading, mathematics and writing skills and knowledge students acquire during high school. The SAT also measures how well students can apply their knowledge, a factor that educators and researchers agree is critical to success in college. The SAT is consistently shown to be a fair and valid predictor of college success for all students. Studies regularly demonstrate that the best predictor of college success is the combination of SAT scores and high school grades. In addition to admission, colleges often use the SAT for course placement and scholarships. During the 2010-11 school year, the SAT was administered to more than two million students worldwide. For further information, visit http://sat.collegeboard.org/.


About the College Board

The College Board is a mission-driven not-for-profit organization that connects students to college success and opportunity. Founded in 1900, the College Board was created to expand access to higher education. Today, the membership association is made up of more than 5,900 of the world’s leading educational institutions and is dedicated to promoting excellence and equity in education. Each year, the College Board helps more than seven million students prepare for a successful transition to college through programs and services in college readiness and college success — including the SAT® and the Advanced Placement Program®. The organization also serves the education community through research and advocacy on behalf of students, educators and schools. For further information, visit http://www.collegeboard.org/.