Mount Carmel School announced that its students fared very well in recently administered SAT-10 and College Board AP national standardized tests. The results show significant improvement in all subjects across all grade levels. On average, students performed at or above the 50th percentile on the SAT-10 and improved from previous years.
For the complete 2018 battery, the average performance of all students was in the 50th percentile, up from the 48th percentile in 2016. National percentile ranks indicate the relative standing of a student in comparison with other students in the same grade in the norm reference group who took the test at a comparable time. Based on the school’s results, students at Mount Carmel School scored, on average, better than 50 percent of the rest of the nation.
Performance on specific subject areas and grade levels also showed marked improvement from previous years. The average performance in math increased from the 51st percentile in 2016 to the 52nd percentile in 2018, while the average performance in reading increased from the 44th percentile in 2016 to the 46th percentile in 2018. 1st grade students reached an impressive 77th percentile for the complete battery, which included achieving 70th percentile in reading. Juniors and seniors performed well in math, reaching 72nd percentile and 69nth percentile, respectively.
High school students also performed well on a number of College Board AP Tests, especially in AP Computer Science Principles, which the school launched for the first time on island last school year. On that test, a majority of students passed the test with a score of 3 or higher, with four students earning a score of 4 and one student earning a perfect score of 5.
School president, Galvin Deleon Guerrero, attributed the success to the school’s consistent emphasis on instructional quality. “Under the leadership of our principal, Frances Taimanao, and our vice principal, Barbara Merfalen, our teachers are blending innovative techniques with proven instructional methods to help all our students succeed.” He added, “It’s important that student success is not limited to just a handful of gifted students; we must ensure that all our students learn and grow.”
