Marked improvements seen in recent PSAT and SAT scores! 

One chilly fall Saturday in October, every single member of the sophomore and junior classes sat nervously with freshly sharpened #2 pencils, in a lecture hall in Suffolk University, while the seniors were scattered at testing sites across the city. Their hopes, their teachers' hope, and their parents' hope for their future lay in front of them as 4 hours worth of bubbles and a packet of questions. These standardized tests undoubtedly strike fear into the hearts of all high school students.  However, now that we have received all the scores, they are a source of pride and reason to celebrate for NCC.

The scores showed marked improvement over recent years. The first chart, "PSAT to SAT," shows our student's growth in scores from their PSAT tests sophomore year to their SAT test senior year. It is clear that there has been a dramatic improvement. Although our students' scores are still below the national average, seen in red, they are now above the average for students of ethnic minorities, seen in blue, and continually moving closer to the national average. These scores imply that we are moving in the right direction towards closing the achievement gap.  This progress is due in large part to the changes in the freshmen curriculum and academic program. A revision of the daily schedule allows Freshmen English and Math teachers to create opportunities for hands on, project-based learning that takes full advantage of what Springboard offers.  Each student in the 9th grade has 100 minutes of both English and Math every day, not for the purpose of doing remedial work, but rather for the purpose of delving more deeply into material for increased understanding. The results of these changes can be seen in the increase of the sophomore year PSATs (refer to chart, "PSAT October Sophomore Year").

The faculty and staff at NCC are committed and dedicated to not only getting every student accepted to the right college, but also preparing them for success at that college.  Our teachers are constantly pushing our students and holding them to high academic standards.  Ms. Crandall and Ms. Gilmore, both spend half of their 100 minute class time on SAT prep for the junior class, while seniors also have a 100 minute block of class time for their most challenging courses as well. Ms. Degnan, the Director of Counseling and Wellness, met with each senior and their parents over the summer to discuss their May SAT scores, and also talk to them as a group. "improvement in scores is encouraging because it shows that the changes in our curriculum have had a positive impact on student learning," explains Ms. Degnan. As the charts depict, we expect these scores to continue to improve in the upcoming years.