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Saint Anthony Junior-Senior High School
School-wide College Preparedness Report
(Some Academic Highlights)
(by Michael Weddington, with contributions from Janice Pruett and Melony NeSmith)
1. SAT Scores: Scholastic Aptitude Test results were not organized for the years prior to my arrival at Saint Anthony this school year of 2008-2009. I have obtained a report from College Board (The Official SAT Test Administrator) which shows that last school year (2007-2008), Saint Anthony students performed better overall than the national averages, and substantively better than the state averages.
In summary: Of the 33 Saint Anthony students who took the SAT during the 2007-2008, the overall mean (average) scores for the principal test sections of critical reading, math, and writing were 515, 504, and 517, respectively; this compares to 481, 502, and 470 for all Hawaii college- bound seniors who took the SAT during the same period, and 502, 515, and 494 for all U.S. college-bound seniors during the same period.
Such a report for this current school year will not be available from College Board for a few more months, but it appears that our students are on pace to perform relatively well once again.
2. ACT Scores: The other major national standardized academic test –the American College Test (ACT) has provided us with relativized performance reports for the four-year period dating from 2004-2007. We do not yet have 2008-2009 statistics.
In terms of the ACT and its primary emphasis on demonstrating core subject knowledge as opposed to an emphasis on demonstrating thinking/test-taking processes (the SAT), the St. Anthony students overall performance has improved year-to-year from 2004 through 2007, including all of the given sections, including English, Math, Reading, and Science. Overall, our students perform even with state averages, while slightly under- performing compared to the national averages.
3. College Preparedness: The ACT has set certain section test scoring benchmarks as indicators of whether a given test-taker is ready for college-level coursework or not. A benchmark score is defined by ACT as the minimum score needed on an ACT subject-area test to indicate a 50% chance of obtaining a B or higher or about a 75% chance of obtaining a C or higher in the corresponding credit-bearing college courses (the exact formula they use is a mystery). And so, according to ACT, 87% of St. Anthony students are capable of achieving a B or C in college level English Composition work compared to 69% for Hawaii state, 53% are capable of achieving a B or C in college level Algebra work compared to 52% statewide, 67% are capable in college level Social Science work compared to 53% statewide, and only 27% in college level Biology work compared to 31% statewide, adding up to only 20% of St. Anthony students meeting all 4 benchmarks compared to 26% statewide (it isn’t clear from the ACT report whether these stats are based on just 2007 results, or for the period 2004-2007). In any case, the ACT report indicates that St. Anthony school-wide performance has improved overall according to almost every indicator during the period 2004-2007.
4. College Acceptances: According to our detailed school records dating back to 1995 (thanks Janice and Melony!), Saint Anthony students have gone on to attend universities and colleges in 29 different states throughout the United States, and 3 foreign countries, including Thailand, Japan, and Canada. Some 88% to 98% of Saint Anthony seniors since 1995 have graduating straight into college or university, or 91% overall since 1995. About 70-80% of our seniors each year since 1995 graduate straight into 4-year colleges and universities, with the remainder enrolling in 2-year colleges (mainly Maui Community College) and vocational/technical institutions. The most popular Hawaii-state destinations for post-secondary education since 1995 have been the University of Hawaii at Manoa and Chaminade University. Some well-known institutions our graduates have been accepted to since 1995 include Boston University, Cal-Poly SLO, Notre Dame, Cornell, Creighton, Fordham, Georgetown, Princeton, Sarah Lawrence, Tufts, Tulane, U.C. Santa Barbara- Berkeley-Davis-Irvine-San Diego-Santa Cruz, the University of Colorado, Baylor, the University of Oregon, the University of Washington, USF, USC, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Marquette, McGill University of Canada, Gonzaga, the University of Indiana at Bloomington, Lewis and Clark College, Pepperdine, Cal Tech, Oregon State University, and Yale University.
5. Advanced Placement Courses and Results: According to my preliminary research of the last two academic years, some 38-40% of Saint Anthony seniors and juniors combined take at least 1 A.P. course a school year. We have been offering 7 different Advanced Placement Exams via established A.P. coursework in recent years at Saint Anthony (compared to a national high school average of 8 exams, according to the College Board, with average enrollments far larger than Saint Anthony on average), including English Language and Composition, English Literature and Composition, Calculus AB, Calculus BC, Environmental Science, U.S. History, and European History. Our top performing Advanced Placement test results have occurred in English Language and Composition, English Literature and Composition, and Environmental Science, where some 30-40% of test-takers have scored a 3 out of a possible 5 –thus meriting special recognition by the national College Board.
6. Community Service and Extra-Curricular Activities: 100% of Saint Anthony students are involved in some form of community service every school-year, as required by our student guidelines via our religion courses. And further, on a voluntary basis, an estimated 95% of all students are involved in clubs, student government, music ministry, L.I.F.E., or sports. It is estimated that 75%+ are involved in more than one of these activities, with many students being involved in several.
Saint Anthony Student Government officers are involved in spearheading community service projects such as the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life. The school had 11 teams at the Relay this past year raising an unprecedented (for any school on Maui, including the large private schools) $10,500! They also chaired the “Survivors Tent”—a dinner event for survivors of cancer—this too was an unprecedented success with over 50 participants—previous years saw only 10-12 participants. Our school clubs also participate in Community Service Projects (e.g. Key Club—Special Olympics; Interact Club—Community Work Days; Science Club—recycling programs; L.I.F.E.—Keiki Fest; National and Junior National Honor Society—Hotel Charity Walk, tutoring at the grade school, etc.). Our school truly excels in its Community Service Projects. As an example, at a recent band concert our students wheeled the elderly from Hale Makua (a home for the elderly and patients not able to care for themselves) over to the school so they could share in the music program. The senior class each year takes the patients from Hale Makua to the Maui County Fair on a special day set aside for the elderly and disabled patients of Maui County.
Our athletic teams currently number some 38 varsity and junior varsity/intermediate teams, with some 90% of our students involved in at least one sport and 75%-80% involved in two or more. These percentages of involvement far surpass comparative levels of student involvement at most secondary institutions in both Hawaii state and the Mainland.
